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West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey weighed in on his state’s upcoming Supreme Court case against trans athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson after 130 congressional Democrats filed an amicus brief backing Pepper-Jackson.
Pepper-Jackson filed the West Virginia v, B.P.J. case in July 2024, to challenge the state’s law, The Save Women’s Sports Act, to compete on a girls high school cross-country and track and field team. But the case will now be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in January.
« The Save Women’s Sport Act is about making sports fair and safe for all involved. It is not about banning anyone from competition. Biological males can compete against biological males but not against biological females, » McCuskey said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital through the law firm Alliance Defending Freedom.
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« Women and girls have lost places on sports teams, surrendered spots on championship podiums and suffered injuries competing against bigger, faster and stronger males. This case is about preserving the hard-earned victories afforded in Title IX and, more than anything, protecting our female athletes. »
The lawsuit was brought against the state of West Virginia by trans athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson, who was initially granted a preliminary injunction allowing the athlete to participate on the school’s sports teams. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law violated Title IX and the equal protection clause. Now, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the state’s appeal.
In a response brief, the athlete’s mother, Heather Jackson, argued West Virginia’s law that prohibits transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports violates Title IX.
However, Title IX does not explicitly protect the right of biologically male transgender people to identify as women. The Trump administration and West Virginia state government do not interpret Title IX as protective of that right.
LEGAL DEFENSE TO PROTECT WOMEN’S SPORTS IN SCOTUS BATTLE OVER TRANS ATHLETES RESPONDS TO ATTEMPT TO DROP CASE
Becky Pepper-Jackson attends the Lambda Legal Liberty Awards June 8, 2023, in New York City. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Lambda Legal)
The 130 Democrats who have thrown their support behind Pepper-Jackson include nine Senators and 121 House members.
The list of signees features prominent figures on the party’s left wing, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. The list also includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. The list does not include noted moderate Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
« Categorical bans — such as the bans in West Virginia and Idaho — undermine those protections and the ability of transgender students to be part of their school community, » the brief says.
The amicus brief also expressed support for another trans athlete, Lindsay Hecox, whose case will also be heard by the Supreme Court in January.
The Little v. Hecox lawsuit was initially filed by trans athlete Lindsay Hecox in 2020, when the athlete wanted to join the women’s cross-country team at Boise State and had the state’s law to prevent trans athletes from competing in women’s sports blocked.
Hecox 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 when a federal judge blocked Idaho’s state law.
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A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld an injunction blocking the state law in 2023, before the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case. Hecox then asked the court 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. »
Hecox tried to have the case dismissed in September after the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case, but U.S. District Judge David Nye, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017, rejected Hecox’s motion to dismiss the case.
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