Two dozen states painted a grim picture for the Supreme Court about the future of women’s sports should the high
Two dozen states painted a grim picture for the Supreme Court about the future of women’s sports should the high court fail to take up an appeal in a brief filed Thursday.
The 24 states raised concerns regarding safety and fairness for female athletes in their brief which asks the Supreme Court to take up Warren Petersen v. Jane Doe, after the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court’s injunction against a 2022 Arizona law, the Save Women’s Sports Act, which prohibits males from competing in female sports. The law was first challenged in April 2023 transgender-identifying students — alongside their parents — who wished to participate on girls’ sports teams.
“States are regularly hauled into court and must bring with them an army of biologists, endocrinologists, and physicians just to defend policies that have long been viewed as commonsense ways to protect and promote flourishing for women and girls,” the brief says. “Female-only basketball and swimming teams. Female-only locker rooms and showers. Female-only bathrooms. But as this case demonstrates, courts across the country have splintered over how to apply the Equal Protection Clause to these policies when confronted with allegations that the policies discriminate based on gender identity.”
“Schools are faced with an impossible task.
