This story was originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on Nov. 18, 2025.

BOISE, ID – The U.S. Supreme Court has set a date for a hearing on Idaho’s transgender athletics ban.

The court will hear arguments on Jan. 13. The hearing — and the court’s ruling, likely to come later in 2026 — will resonate well beyond Idaho, and mark a pivotal moment in the national debate over transgender athletics.

Idaho was the first state in the nation to pass a law banning transgender athletes from playing in women’s and girls’ sports. But the 2020 law has been mired in the courts since then, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has blocked it from going into effect.

The state of Idaho appealed, and the Supreme Court agreed in July to hear Idaho’s case. A hearing date hadn’t been set until last week.

But some legal maneuvering continues to surround the case.

Lindsay Hecox, the transgender Boise State University student who has fought the Idaho law, has asked the Supreme Court to drop the matter. Hecox argues that the case is moot, because she is focused on graduating college and has no plans to play in women’s sports. The state has opposed her motion to close the case.

Last month, Chief U.S. District Court Judge David Nye kept the case open in Idaho’s federal court, rejecting Hecox’s motion to drop the matter.

Since Idaho passed its transgender athletics ban five years ago, 26 other states have followed suit.

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