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The Supreme Court has announced it will hear appeals from West Virginia and Idaho regarding laws that exclude transgender student athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports teams. The cases will be argued in the fall and decided in 2026. The justices will determine if these bans violate the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act by discriminating based on an athlete's sex assigned at birth. Lower courts previously ruled that the state laws violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause or Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, siding with the student athletes.
This decision follows a recent ruling by the Supreme Court's conservative majority, which upheld state bans on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Chief Justice John Roberts stated that the laws did not violate the 14th Amendment, despite similar treatments being available to cisgender minors. The upcoming cases mark the first time the Supreme Court will weigh in on state laws specifically targeting transgender athletes.