Supreme Court allows a transgender boy on girls track team

On Thursday, The U.S. Supreme Court refused to lift a stay on a West Virginia law meant to prevent males from joining female sports teams at public schools. A federal appeals court has ordered a stay on the law while it considers an appeal from a 12-year-old boy who identifies as a girl and wants to compete on the middle school girls’ track team. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented in the Supreme Court’s refusal to lift the stay. 

What’s happening in the executive branch of government? President Joe Biden’s administration proposed a new rule Thursday that would stop federally-funded schools from protecting women’s sports. The rule would prohibit schools and colleges from creating “one-size-fits-all” policies for transgender athletes in women’s sports. The schools would be allowed to make eligibility rules around sports participation but couldn’t ban athletes outright based on their sex. 

Dig deeper: Read Ray Hacke’s report in Muse on track and field’s international governing body banning men from competing in women’s events.