The Supreme Court is fighting West Virginia’s sports ban against a 12-year-old transgender girl.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a 12-year-old transgender girl who overturned a West Virginia ban. Transgender athletes joining women’s sports teamsTemporarily block the region from executing the region.

West Virginia officials He approved the ban in 2021. The law requires public schools to create sports teams based on the gender assigned at birth. A middle school student who competes on the girls’ cross country and track and field teams and her family filed a lawsuit in federal court; Prohibition violates the Constitution and federal laws.

As in emergency cases, the court denied the state’s request to temporarily revive the ban while the underlying litigation continues without explanation. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas disagreed. Then the decision.

“Enforcement of the law in other cases should not be precluded by the federal courts,” Alito wrote, referring to a lower court’s decision to stay enforcement of the law.

Authorities in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and other states have passed similar laws. Here, see Father Laelwai Bet Fardi’s discussion on transgender sports issues.

What you need to know about the West Virginia transgender sports case at SCOTUS

• West Virginia In 2021, she introduced a law that would ban transgender girls from playing on school girls’ sports teams. Middle school in college. Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 12-year-old transgender girl who currently competes on her school’s cross country and track and field teams, sued that the ban was unconstitutional.

• A federal district court sided with the state in February, ruling that officials appear to be “authorized to use biology as the sole criterion for segregating school athletic teams.” But the Richmond-based U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit essentially stayed the lower court’s decision in late February, allowing Pepper-Jackson to try for the teams. The state appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

• West Virginia officials have asked the top court to let them continue to enforce the ban while the underlying case works its way through lower courts.

The story continues

Ball fields to bathrooms: More transgender cases pending in court

The Pepper-Jackson case, West Virginia v. BPJ, is one. Several related to school sports bans For transgender students.

A federal appeals court in New York is set to exercise a closer examination of Connecticut’s permitting policy. Transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports Groups. The plaintiffs said the policy “actively harms female athletes.” In December, the three-judge panel of the court stood in a narrow field with the region’s high schools. The full appeals court will hear arguments in the case in June.

Thomas: Clarence Thomas received undisclosed lavish gifts from GOP megadonor for decades: Report

round up: Transgender Athlete Blocks One Of Many LGBTQ Battles In Courts

Case Tracking: See the key cases pending in the Supreme Court

Other courts are considering policies related to school bathrooms. In December, a federal appeals court upheld a Florida school district’s policy barring transgender students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. The 7-4 opinion reached a different conclusion Conclusion from the Court of Appeals in Virginia Considering the same policy – creating a division between the courts that could entice the Supreme Court to review the case.

Advocates are awaiting a decision from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia over North Carolina’s exclusion of gender-affirmation coverage in state health. Insurance scheme for the government Employees.

The big picture

The Supreme Court finally took up transgender rights in 2019, and ultimately sided with it Three workers were fired Because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In 2020, a 6-3 majority passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination based on “sex” in the workplace, which includes sexual orientation and gender identity.

But the country’s highest court has dismissed several high-profile appeals. In 2021, the court He refused to raise the issue of the school bathroom.. At issue was a Virginia policy requiring transgender students to use unisex bathrooms. Gavin Grimm, a transgender man who was denied access to the boys’ bathroom as a student, sued over the policy. In rejecting the case, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling from a Virginia appeals court that the policy was discriminatory.

Months later, the court refused to hear an argument between transsexual Evan Minton and a Catholic nun. Obstetrics prohibited hospital. The decision upheld a lower court ruling that allowed Minton to proceed with the lawsuit.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court Fights WV Sports Ban With Transgender Girl