White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back at Supreme Court justices Thursday
SCOTUS heard two cases regarding the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports
The White House mouthpiece was asked by conservative activist and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines whether Donald Trump’s administration was prepared to take action against states who would not comply with a potential future ruling from the Supreme Court’s to ban transgender athletes from women’s sport.
‘Absolutely,’ Leavitt responded.
‘The administration … [has] taken action on a number of fronts against these states who are failing to uphold the president’s executive orders and this administration’s policy of simply protecting women and women’s sports and women’s private spaces. We’ve gone to the mat with large universities in this country, as well, to try to fight for what’s right and what’s just for women in this country.
‘I think the president speaks on common sense on this issue, that women’s sports and private spaces should be protected and that there are two genders, there are two sexes – that is not something we should be afraid to say in this country.’
The consensus among pundits following Tuesday’s hearing is that SCOTUS seems likely to uphold state laws barring transgender athletes from playing on school athletic teams.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard opening arguments in the Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. cases, which address the constitutional rights of states to ban biological males from women’s and girl’s sports.
Lower courts ruled for the transgender athletes who challenged the state bans in Idaho and West Virginia, two of more than 24 Republican-led states to pass such restrictions.
Nonetheless, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court gave no indication after over three hours of arguments that it would follow suit.
Conservative activist and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines questioned Leavitt on the hearing during a press briefing on Thursday
