Transgender student at center of major Supreme Court appeal withdraws her case

By John Fritze, CNN

(CNN) — A transgender woman who was challenging Idaho’s ban on trans athletes told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that she is withdrawing her high-profile case, citing intense “negative public scrutiny” because of the litigation and a desire to focus on “academic and personal goals.”

Lindsay Hecox, a 24-year-old senior at Boise State University told the high court that she is dismissing her case – and, in an unusual move, she asked the justices to throw out a ruling from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that was decided in her favor.

Even if the Supreme Court grants the request, it will still have an opportunity to decide this term whether states may ban transgender students from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity. That’s because the court granted a second case, involving a transgender student from West Virginia, that raises the same issue.

The Hecox filing underscored the difficulty plaintiffs and advocacy groups have experienced in sustaining legal challenges to a wave of laws enacted by states across the country intended to roll back transgender rights. Gains made by LGBTQ Americans in past decades have faced renewed skepticism, with President Donald Trump moving to unwind federal policies intended to shield trans Americans from discrimination.

Attorneys for Hecox told the Supreme Court that she had faced “significant challenges that have affected her both personally and academically,” including her father’s death in 2022.

“Ms. Hecox has also come under negative public scrutiny from certain quarters because of this litigation, and she believes that such continued – and likely intensified – attention in the coming school year will distract her from her schoolwork and prevent her from meeting her academic and personal goals,” her attorneys told the Supreme Court.

“While playing women’s sports is important to Ms. Hecox, her top priority is graduating from college and living a healthy and safe life,” the attorneys said, adding that Hecox would not try out for any teams covered by the state’s law.

Transgender advocates are still reeling from the 6-3 ruling earlier this year in US v. Skrmetti, which upheld Tennessee’s ban on trans youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Challenges to the sports bans are almost certain to face a high degree of skepticism from several of the Supreme Court’s conservatives.

In Idaho, Republican Gov. Brad Little signed the state’s sports ban in 2020, the first of its kind in the nation. Hecox, then a freshman at Boise State, sued days later, saying that she intended to try out for the women’s track and cross-country teams and alleging that the law violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

A federal district court blocked the law’s enforcement against Hecox months later and the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision last year. Idaho appealed to the Supreme Court in July.

Idaho officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The high court is still on track to hear the case of Becky Pepper-Jackson, who is challenging West Virginia’s ban. Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, signed the “Save Women’s Sports Act” in 2021, banning transgender women and girls from participating on public school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

Pepper-Jackson, a rising sixth grader at the time, who was “looking forward to trying out for the girls’ cross-country team,” filed a lawsuit alleging that the ban violated federal law and the Constitution.

The Richmond-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that West Virginia’s ban violated Pepper-Jackson’s rights under Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex at schools that receive federal aid. The court also revived her constitutional challenge of the law.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in that case sometime next year and issue a decision before the end of June.

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