Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson attends the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture presented by Coca-Cola at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 05, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for ESSENCE)
Hurst replied that Idaho's Fairness in Women's Sports Act hinged on a student athlete's sex, not transgender status.
"The legislature did not want to exclude transgender people from sports," Hurst said. "It wanted to keep women's sports women-only and exclude males from women's sports."
Jackson continued to press Hurst, asking: "But it treats transgender women different than ciswomen, doesn’t it?"
In a separate case, Jackson asked West Virginia Solicitor General Michael Williams similar questions about his state's Save Women's Sports Act.
The high court heard arguments in both cases on Tuesday and is expected to issue a decision by the summer that could have far-reaching impacts. A decision in favor of the states could allow the two states, as well as about two dozen others, to restrict transgender athletes who identify as women and girls from competing in female sports from elementary school through college. It could also influence other transgender policies across the country, depending on how broadly or narrowly the court rules.
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Williams argued that once the high court accepts that states are allowed to separate boys and girls in sports, disputes over how "girl" is defined could be reviewed under a less strict legal standard.
"But I don't think the Court needs to go as far as that," Williams added.
Jackson's focus on the definition of "girl" echoes a viral moment from her confirmation hearing to become a justice in 2022, when Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked Jackson to define "woman."
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"I can’t, not in this context. I’m not a biologist," Jackson had replied at the time.
Conservatives have frequently posed the question to transgender rights advocates, who, like Jackson, typically do not offer direct responses to a question that critics have said is loaded and designed to attack transgender people.
Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, covering the Justice Department and legal affairs. Email story tips to ashley.oliver@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/justice-jackson-presses-idaho-lawyer-on-treating-transgender-women-different-than-cis-women