Lindsay Hecox’s Legal Battle Over Women’s Sports Reaches Supreme Court
A federal judge recently blocked an attempt by trans athlete Lindsay Hecox to have her Supreme Court case over Idaho’s law restricting transgender athletes in women’s sports programs dismissed. The judge’s decision maintains the case’s presence on the Supreme Court’s docket, where it will be heard alongside a similar case from West Virginia. Hecox initially filed the lawsuit in 2020 to challenge Idaho’s HB 500 law, which barred males from competing in women’s sports, in order to join the Boise State women’s cross-country team. Her legal team, including the ACLU and other advocacy groups, continues to advocate for the rights of all women and girls, including transgender individuals. The case could have far-reaching implications for the legal protections afforded to transgender athletes in women’s sports programs across the United States.
Hecox’s attorneys, from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Cooley, LLP, and Legal Voice, provided a statement to Fox News Digital after U.S. District Judge David Nye rejected the trans athlete’s motion to dismiss the case on Tuesday. They emphasized that Lindsay Hecox had ended her participation in women’s athletic programs covered by HB 500 to prioritize finishing her degree and her personal safety. The statement noted that the case in West Virginia, West Virginia v. B.P.J., will address a challenge to a nearly identical law. The legal groups continue to advocate for the rights of all women and girls, including transgender women and girls.
When Hecox initially filed the lawsuit in 2020, she was joined by an anonymous biological female student, Jane Doe, who was concerned about the potential of being subjected to the sex dispute verification process. The challenge was successful, as a federal judge blocked Idaho’s state law. A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld an injunction blocking the state law in 2023 before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Hecox then asked SCOTUS last month to drop the challenge, claiming the athlete “has therefore decided to permanently withdraw and refrain from playing any women’s sports at BSU or in Idaho.”
Former Idaho State University cross-country and track runner Madison Kenyon voluntarily joined the defendant list in Little v. Hecox alongside Little after having to compete against a trans athlete her freshman year in 2019. She recounted the impact of facing a male athlete, stating, “My coach sat us down in the room and told us that we would be competing against a male athlete at a specific meet and just let us know. And I remember sitting there and kind of like, looking around the room being like, ‘Well, what do my teammates think about this? What do we do?’”
Hecox’s efforts to have the case dropped aren’t completely over, as SCOTUS must still rule on whether the case is moot. However, Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, who is leading the defense against Hecox, believes Nye’s ruling is a “good sign” for their efforts to take the case to the highest court in the nation and achieve a landmark ruling. Labrador previously stated his hope for the Supreme Court to cast a decision with a wider impact than just letting one state carry out its own specific law on the issue. He wants a new national precedent, as he believes the Court will have a big ruling on whether men can participate in women’s sports and how to determine whether transgender individuals are protected by the federal constitution and state and federal laws.