Little v. Hecox

Description:  The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act to force female athletes to compete against biological males who identify as female.

WASHINGTON – Women’s rights groups, female athletes, the United States government, scientists, 27 states, and dozens of other advocacy groups showed strong support for protecting women’s sports in more than 50 friend-of-the-court briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The states of West Virginia and Idaho, together with attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, are asking the high court to allow enforcement of state laws that protect women’s sports.

“It’s a great day, as female athletes in West Virginia will have their voices heard,” West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said. “The people of West Virginia know that it’s unfair to let male athletes compete against women; that’s why we passed this commonsense law preserving women’s sports for women. We are confident the Supreme Court will uphold the Save Women’s Sports Act because it complies with the U.S. Constitution and complies with Title IX. And most importantly: It protects women and girls by ensuring the playing field is safe and fair.”

“Idaho’s women and girls deserve an equal playing field,” added Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador. “I am thrilled the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear our case. For too long, activists have worked to sideline women and girls in their own sports. Men and women are biologically different, and we hope the court will allow states to end this injustice and ensure men no longer create a dangerous, unfair environment for women to showcase their incredible talent and pursue the equal opportunities they deserve.”

“Women and girls deserve to compete on a level playing field. But activists continue their quest to erase differences between men and women by forcing schools to allow men to compete in women’s sports,” said ADF CEO, President, and Chief Counsel Kristen Waggoner. “This contradicts biological reality and common sense. We should be seeking to protect women’s sports and equal opportunities, and West Virginia’s and Idaho’s laws accomplish just that. We are pleased the court will listen to the countless girls across the country speaking out on this issue and restore fairness and safety for female athletes.”

In State of West Virginia v. B.P.J., McCuskey, supported by ADF attorneys who serve as co-counsel and also as counsel to former college soccer player Lainey Armistead, asked the Supreme Court to hear their case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled against West Virginia’s law protecting fairness in women’s sports. In Little v. Hecox, Labrador, also supported by ADF attorneys, asked the high court to uphold his state’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit stopped the law from going into effect.

In the West Virginia case, a middle-school male athlete competing on a girls’ track team finished ahead of more than 400 different girls, displacing them 1,100 times in three years in cross-country and track-and-field events.

“As a young teenaged girl, A.C. has found it difficult enough to navigate the necessity of changing clothes in the same locker rooms and restrooms as a biological male,” the brief submitted by A.C., a 16-year-old female athlete who was forced to compete against the West Virginia male athlete, states. “It is unconscionable that, as the price for participating in sports, she has been forced to do so alongside a biological male who has regularly made lewd comments to her about his male anatomy and threatened her with sexual assault.”

“However else Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause may apply to trans-identifying individuals, they certainly do not require granting these men and boys a preferential exemption from biology-based rules, let alone when that would come at the expense of competitive fairness and safety for women and girls—the very people Title IX was enacted to protect,” the brief filed by the Trump administration explained. “Neither Title IX nor the Equal Protection Clause supports the perverse result of forcing States to disregard the ‘[p]hysical differences between men and women’ that Justice Ginsburg rightly described as ‘enduring’ and ‘cause for celebration.’”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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