Even Conservatives Justices Seem Torn In Trans Rights Case

The cases could affect laws in 27 states that bar trans athletes from women’s sports.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed torn during oral arguments on the first of two cases over whether state laws banning trans girls and women from playing on women’s sports teams violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment or Title IX, the federal anti-sex-discrimination law.

During the first case to be heard in the back-to-back session, Little v. Hecox, both conservative and liberal justices raised questions — including those about what level of scrutiny to apply to anti-trans sports bans and whether this case itself was still valid.

At the center of the case is Lindsay Hecox, a senior at Boise State University who sued over Idaho’s 2020 law banning transgender girls and women from playing women’s sports. She argued that the law violated her rights to equal protection under the Constitution, and she eventually won her case in the lower courts. In September 2025, Hecox argued that her case is moot because she no longer plays or intends to play any college or team sports in the state.

Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson noted the negative attention the plaintiff has received by being part of the lawsuit. If the justices don’t choose to dismiss the case as moot, they argued, they would be forcing “an unwilling plaintiff” to continue to be part of a high-profile lawsuit.

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch asked Alan Hurst, Idaho’s solicitor general, if transgender people should be considered a legally protected class in this case — a major and still-unanswered question that comes up in nearly all cases involving transgender rights. Gorsuch wrote a significant 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County that protected transgender employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.