State laws protecting women’s sports in half the country could stand to be affected depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in two cases that the justices heard this week. Ohio is among them, with the state having passed such a law in January 2024.
At a Jan. 15 press conference, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost spoke with The Daily Signal on how the Supreme Court decision could impact the Buckeye State.
“Depending on how the Supreme Court decides and what the rationale is, it could have an impact,” Yost confirmed when it comes to the impact on state law here in Ohio, specifically H.B. 68, which includes the Save Women’s Sports Act and the SAFE Act.
The attorney general further explained how state law has been met with federal and state challenges, including at the Ohio State Supreme Court. Yost has been defending the legislation at the state level.
The Save Women’s Sports Act, is still “the law of the land” and is “operational,” Yost reminded, as it has been allowed to remain in effect during court challenges.
Yost also said that “with the posture of these cases, I don’t think it would knock out our case here in the state,” though he stressed we don’t have an outcome yet.
Such decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court may not come until late June or even early July.
As the justices heard Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J., Yost was in Washington, DC to speak out on the issue, joining several other Republican attorneys general to do so.
The attorney general was able to hear the Supreme Court arguments, which he called “fascinating.”
The justices were “very interested in the intellectual questions” surrounding the case, Yost claimed.
“I think these state laws will probably be upheld by the Supreme Court,” Yost offered when it comes to his prediction. “The question is by what margin and how broad is the rationale.”
Others also believe that the justices will uphold such state laws.
Do No Harm, a group which describes itself as “a national association of medical professionals combating the attack on our healthcare system from woke activists,” also spoke to the potential ramifications of such a case as well as what’s at stake.
Dr. Kurt Miceli, the chief medical director of Do No Harm told The Daily Signal that, “a win for Idaho and West Virginia at the Supreme Court will pave the way for other states across the country to pass and enforce protections for girls and force lower courts to acknowledge the binary nature of sex.”
“Contrary to activists’ misinformation, blood testosterone levels alone do not fully capture the male physical advantage. Scientific evidence proves that, even before puberty, boys have a physical advantage in strength and speed over girls of the same age,” said Miceli. “We are optimistic the court will ensure biological reality is upheld and common-sense protections are reinstated.”
Yost also shared a similar sentiment with The Daily Signal when it comes to what states like Ohio are aiming for with such laws:
The whole reason Title IX exists is because we wanted girls and women to have exactly the same opportunities that men did, to learn teamwork and leadership and resilience, and how do you deal with a loss and how are you magnanimous in victory, and all the things that come from sports. If you say that we’re going to just let biological boys or men into girls’ and women’s sports, you’ve taken away that equality and erased 50 years of progress.
The Save Women’s Sports Act, along with The SAFE Act, was part of H.B. 68, which Republican Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed in late December 2023. An override of that veto ultimately took place.
State Rep. Gary Click, the Republican who introduced the SAFE Act, also shared his thoughts with The Daily Signal about how he thought oral arguments went, taking particular aim at one the liberal justices.
“Apparently, Justice [Ketanji Brown] Jackson is still uncertain of what a woman is,” Click shared referring to when the now associate justice went viral during her committee hearing in 2022 as well as during Tuesday’s oral arguments. “But the rest of us have the basic competence to know the difference and to believe that women’s spaces must be protected from being invaded by men.”
“I am confident that the competent majority will agree,” Click added. The court currently includes a 6-3 majority makeup of conservatives.
The Daily Signal also reached out to the Ohio chapter of the Americans Civil Liberties Union, which has come down on the side of biological men and boys being able to compete against women and girls but did not receive a response.
