Alabama Attorney General Marshall Leads Coalition Urging Supreme Court to Uphold State Laws Protecting Girls’ Sports

For Immediate Release:
August 14, 2024

For press inquiries only, contact:
Amanda Priest (334) 322-5694
William Califf (334) 604-3230

(Montgomery, Ala) - Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall today filed a 26-state amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court's decision that the Constitution prohibits States from restricting girls' sports teams to biological females. The case arises from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in June that Idaho's Fairness in Women's Sports Act likely violates the Equal Protection Clause by not allowing biological males-who identify as women-to compete on sports teams reserved for women or girls. Marshall is also asking the Court to hear a similar dispute over West Virginia's law.

"As we have recently seen on the world stage, males have an unfair competitive advantage when compared to females. After 50 years of tremendous strides to expand opportunities for girls and women to compete in sports on a level playing field, we are backpedaling as biological males take opportunities from girls and women who deserve the chance to succeed," said Attorney General Marshall. "As Biden and Harris push to expand the definition of 'female' to biological males to appease a small minority of their base, States like Idaho and Alabama are determined to protect the integrity of girls' sports from these radical ideologues. The law is on our side, public opinion is on our side, and ultimately, we will prevail in our fight for fairness and equal opportunity regardless of a person's biological sex."

In 2023, the Alabama Legislature passed a similar bill that uses biological sex rather than gender identity to classify sports teams at public schools, including colleges and universities.

Attorney General Marshall recently was successful in halting the Biden-Harris administration's expansion of Title IX regulations, which would have allowed biological males in female-only spaces such as sports locker rooms and bathrooms.

Marshall led the brief with the attorney general of Arkansas, who were joined by the attorneys general of the following states: Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Click here to read the brief.

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