Trans athlete at center of Supreme Court IX case wins track and field state championship
Transgender athlete Becky Pepper-Jackson won the girls’ championship in West Virginia this week, before the US Supreme Court ruled on whether the state could bar Pepper-Jackson from competing with women.
Pepper-Jackson took Bridgeport High School’s first place in the Class AAA state title with a personal best of 38 feet, 11.75 inches. Runner-up Paislee Babiczuk, of John Marshall, finished more than two feet taller, managing a height of 36 feet 11 inches.
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A protester holds a transgender pride flag outside the Supreme Court in Washington as the court hears arguments on Jan. 13, 2026, on state laws barring transgender girls and women from school sports teams. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
Pepper-Jackson’s eligibility to compete in girls’ championships in West Virginia has been a point of high-profile legal contention since 2021, when the state passed a bill barring biological males from competing in girls’ sports. Pepper-Jackson sued and successfully challenged the law, which entered girls’ competitions throughout high school, before the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
Pepper-Jackson’s attorneys at the ACLU gave oral arguments to the Supreme Court justices on Jan. 13. But with no decision expected until June, Pepper-Jackson was left to continue competing during the athlete’s high school season.
Pepper-Jackson has now won the title of state champion in the best way possible, after the athlete’s lawyers at the ACLU argued that men do not have a chance to compete with women, with ACLU attorney Joshua Block arguing that “if the evidence shows that there is no significant difference in life between BPJ and the other girls, there is no reason to disqualify her.”
West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey, who is helping lead the legal defense against Pepper-Jackson and the ACLU, sent a letter to the Supreme Court on Tuesday highlighting Pepper-Jackson’s performance this season and how it compares to female competitors.
“As a sophomore in high school, Pepper-Jackson does not finish ‘close to the back of the pack…’ but instead beats every man – or almost every woman – in the state in these events. I would appreciate it if you could spread this message to members of the court,” McCuskey wrote.
WEST VIRGINIA AG DEFENDS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST TRANS PLAYER IN SCOTUS SPORTS WOMEN’S LIFE.
Becky Pepper-Jackson speaks on stage during the Lambda Legal Liberty Awards in New York City on June 8, 2023. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
Attorneys representing the Pepper-Jackson case at the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) are also paying attention to what the results of the rally might mean for their case.
“The development from the government meeting this past weekend underscores the fact that no testosterone suppression or intervention can reverse the real differences men have with women,” ADF spokesperson Suzanne Beecher told Fox News Digital.
“It really undercuts the ACLU’s argument.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the ACLU for a response.
The Supreme Court appears poised to rule in West Virginia’s favor against Pepper-Jackson as a June ruling is expected. But what comes next will do nothing for the girls who were affected on Saturday.
“What has happened by suspending the law in West Virginia as it applies in West Virginia in the BPJ case is that the girls have already been harmed,” added Beecher. “If you ignore the differences between boys and girls, and between men and women, the biggest damage falls on girls.”
The ACLU previously urged SCOTUS not to base its decision on the definition of “sex.”
“However the court resolves the caseI really urge the court not to do it with the definition of sex argument,” Block said during Jan. 13 oral arguments. “I don’t think the purpose of Title IX is to have a precise definition of sex. I think the purpose is to make sure that sex is not used to discriminate by denying opportunities… I’m not going to look at whether I should categorize BPJ as male or female, I think the question is, ‘are you being denied an opportunity because of that classification?’
After the hearing, Fox News Digital asked Block what his definition of “sex” was. He declined to give an explanation.
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“I don’t think that’s what this case is about. What this case is about is treating all people, including cis and trans people, and that’s what we’re here to talk about today,” Block replied.
Fox News Digital tried to ask Block why gender should not be mentioned in the case, but the attorney walked away and did not answer any further questions. The gender-defining question was the only question Block answered in the post-hearing scrum before concluding his speech to reporters.
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