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FIRST ON FOX: Legal defense to 'save women's sports' wins major victory Battle in the Supreme Court over transgender athletes this week.
After an Idaho trans athlete tried to have a potentially landmark SCOTUS case thrown out, a federal judge rejected an attempt to dismiss it and ruled the case should continue.
U.S. District Judge David Nye, appointed by the President Donald Trump in 2017 denied former Boise State athlete Lindsey Hecox's motion to dismiss the case. The trans athlete began his legal battle in 2020 but sought to have it dismissed in September after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in July.
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Nye has now rejected Hecox's request.
Nye stressed that after years of litigation, “[Idaho] has a fair right to have his arguments heard and determined once and for all.”[T]The Court finds that Hecox's mootness argument, as stated above, is somewhat manipulative to avoid Supreme Court review and should not be sustained.”
The lawsuit, Little v. Hecox, was originally filed by Hecox in 2020 when a trans athlete wanted to join the Boise State women's cross-country team and was blocked by a state law banning trans athletes from participating in women's sports.
Hecox was joined by anonymous biology student Jane Doe, who was concerned about the possibility of being subjected to the sex dispute review process. The lawsuit was successful as a federal judge blocked the Idaho law.
A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking the state law in 2023 before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case back in July. Then last month, Hecox asked SCOTUS to waive the challenge, saying the athlete “has therefore decided to permanently withdraw from and refrain from participating in any women's sports at BSU or Idaho.”
The defense team, led by Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Kristen Waggoner, opposed Hecox's attempt to end the battle before it reached the Supreme Court, arguing that the dismissal violated the agreed-upon stay.
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Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador speaks outside the Supreme Court on April 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“From day one in office, protecting this law has been a top priority because Idaho's daughters deserve fair competition based on biological reality. The district court ruled that through years of litigation, Idaho had earned the right to take our case to the highest court in the land. This decision supports our lawsuit, and I will not stop until women and girls can safely compete, participate and succeed in competitive sports,” Labrador told Fox News Digital about Nye’s decision.
Hecox's efforts to have the case dismissed are not entirely over yet, as SCOTUS must still rule on whether the case is moot. But Labrador and his team believe Nye's decision is a “good sign” for their side.
Ultimately, the defense in this case is looking for a broader outcome than just Hecox's ability to play women's sports. Labrador told Fox News Digital he is calling on the court to protect states' rights to protect women's sports.
Labrador has previously said he hopes the Supreme Court will issue a decision that has a broader impact than simply allowing one state to enforce its own specific law on the issue. He wants to set a new national precedent. “I believe that’s what they’re going to do,” Labrador previously told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview.
“I think they have an important decision to make about whether men can participate in women's sports and, more importantly, how to determine whether transgender people are protected under the federal constitution and state and federal laws.”
Attorneys general from 27 states and the U.S. territory of Guam have signed amicus briefs to support the defense in the upcoming SCOTUS case.
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Trans flag and SCOTUS (Alexander Paul/NurPhoto via Getty Images | AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Labrador's case is just one of two addressing the issue of trans athletes in women's sports that will be heard by the Supreme Court.
West Virginia, which passed the Save Women's Sports Act of 2021, is appealing a lower court decision allowing transgender athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson to compete on her school's cross-country and track teams. Last year, Pepper-Jackson qualified for the West Virginia girls high school track and field state meet by placing third in the discus and eighth in the shot put in the Class AAA division.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Pepper-Jackson, who was taking puberty-blocking medications, in an April 2024 ruling based on the Constitution's equal protection clause.
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