Lower courts have already ruled against the bans in Idaho and West Virginia, but the conservative-dominated Supreme Court might not follow suit.
In just the past year, the justices ruled in favor state bans against gender mutilation procedures on young people and allowed restrictions against males in girl's changing rooms and bathrooms.
Prominent women in sports have weighed in on both sides. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh-Jennings are supporting the state bans. Soccer stars Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn and basketball players Sue Byrd and Breanna Stewart back allowing males to compete against females.
Polling shows the majority of Americans support the bans. An AP-NORC poll conducted last October found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring young people to only compete on sports teams that match their biological sex.
