LGBTQ+ rights advocates rally outside the US Supreme Court as justices hear arguments in challenges to state bans on transgender athletes in women's sports, Washington, DC, January 13, 2026. OLIVER CONTRERAS / AFP
In a closely watched pair of cases, the US Supreme Court appeared likely on Tuesday, January 13, to uphold state bans on the participation of transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports.
The conservative-dominated court heard more than three hours of arguments in separate challenges to state laws in Idaho and West Virginia banning transgender students from female competition. 27 US states have passed laws in recent years barring athletes who were assigned as male at birth from taking part in girls' or women's sports.
The Idaho case stems from the Republican-led state's 2020 Fairness in Women's Sports Act. The act was challenged by a transgender athlete at an Idaho university, and lower courts ruled that it violates the equal protection clause of the US Constitution.
"Idaho's law classifies on the basis of sex, because sex is what matters in sports," not gender identity, Alan Hurst, the Idaho solicitor general, told the court. "It correlates strongly with countless athletic advantages like size, muscle mass, bone mass and heart and lung capacity," Hurst said. "If women don't have their own competitions, they won't be able to compete."
