Little v. Hecox
| Little v. Hecox | |
|---|---|
| Argued January 13, 2026 | |
| Full case name | Little, Governor of Idaho, et al. v. Hecox, et al. |
| Docket no. | 24-38 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Hecox v. Little, 479 F. Supp. 3d 930 (D. Idaho 2020); affirmed, Hecox v. Little, 79 F.4th 1009 (9th Cir. 2023) |
| Questions presented | |
| Whether laws that seek to protect women's and girls' sports by limiting participation to women and girls based on sex violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. | |
| Court membership | |
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Little v. Hecox (consolidated with West Virginia v. B. P. J.) is a pending United States Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of state laws that ban transgender women and girls from participating on female athletic teams. The case challenges Idaho's 2020 Fairness in Women's Sports Act, the first law of its kind in the United States, which defines sex based on reproductive biology and genetics rather than gender identity.
The Court heard oral arguments on January 13, 2026. The case is significant as it tests the application of the Court's 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County—which held that Title VII's prohibition on sex discrimination includes gender identity—to the context of competitive sports and Title IX. Relevant laws applied in lower court rulings include the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX.