WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a 12-year-old transgender girl in West Virginia to continue competing on her middle school’s girls sports teams while a lawsuit over a state ban continues.
The justices refused to disturb an appeals court order that made it possible for the girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson, to continue playing on her school’s track and cross-country teams, where she regularly finishes near the back of the pack.
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas would have allowed West Virginia to enforce its law against Pepper-Jackson.
Pepper-Jackson is in the middle of the outdoor track season. She had filed a lawsuit challenging the law, the Save Women’s Sports Act, which West Virginia lawmakers adopted in 2021. A federal appeals court had allowed her to compete while she appealed a lower court ruling that upheld the West Virginia law.
In an emailed statement issued by the ACLU’s West Virginia chapter to The Associated Press on Thursday night, Pepper-Jackson said: “I am so happy that the Supreme Court saw that this stay was not an emergency. I still get to play with my friends and teammates on the track team. That’s all I want to do, be with my friends and be the girl that I am.”
The high court announcement came the same day the Biden administration proposed a new rule that would prevent schools and colleges from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes, but would allow certain exceptions to promote fairness or reduce injuries.