Judge rejects bid to drop Idaho trans athlete case, clearing path for SCOTUS review

By Jackson Thompson | Fox News

Trump-appointed judge denied former Boise State athlete's motion to drop Idaho sports law challenge

FIRST ON FOX: The legal defense to “save women’s sports” scored a big win in its Supreme Court battle over transgender athletes this week.

After an Idaho trans athlete tried to have the potential landmark SCOTUS case dropped, a federal judge struck down the attempt to dismiss it and ruled that the case should proceed.

U.S. District Judge David Nye, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017, rejected former Boise State trans athlete Lindsay Hecox’s motion to dismiss the case. The trans athlete started the legal battle in 2020, but tried to have it dismissed in September after the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case. 

Now Nye has denied Hecox’s request.

Nye emphasized that after years of litigation, “[Idaho] has a fair right to have its arguments heard and adjudicated once and for all.” And that, “[T]he Court feels [Hecox’s] mootness argument is, as above, somewhat manipulative to avoid Supreme Court review and should not be endorsed.”

The Little v. Hecox lawsuit was initially filed by Hecox in 2020, when the trans athlete wanted to join the women’s cross-country team at Boise State, and had the state’s law to prevent trans athletes from competing in women’s sports blocked.

Hecox was joined by an anonymous biological female student, Jane Doe, who was concerned about the potential of being subjected to the sex dispute verification process. The challenge was successful, as a federal judge blocked Idaho’s state law. 

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld an injunction blocking the state law in 2023, before the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case back in July. Hecox then asked SCOTUS last month to drop the challenge, claiming the athlete “has therefore decided to permanently withdraw and refrain from playing any women’s sports at BSU or in Idaho.”

The defense team, led by Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorney Kristen Waggoner pushed back against Hecox’s attempt to end the battle before it reaches the Supreme Court, arguing dismissal violated the agreed-upon stay.

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