Supreme Court blocks West Virginia sports ban
On Thursday last week, the Supreme Court blocked West Virginia from enforcing its ban on Trans athletes participating in female sports teams in public schools, citing the fact that a lower court injunction against the ban will remain until litigation over a particular case ends.

That case might sound familiar. Twelve-year-old Trans girl Becky Pepper-Jackson sued the state over the ban in 2021 after she wasn't allowed on her middle school's cross-country and track teams. She and her mother Heather argued that the state has violated both Title IX and the 14th Amendment by discriminating against Becky on the basis of sex.

Republicans have not been happy. West Virginia officials, such as Attorney General Patrick Morrissey, appealed to "common sense" and "biological differences" to justify the law.

In a joint statement, the American Civil Liberty Union and Lambda Legal said, "This was a baseless and cruel effort to keep Becky from where she belongs — playing alongside her peers as a teammate and as a friend.

Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas publicly dissented from the Supreme Court decision.

Teacher refuses students' preferred pronouns, loses job
A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday last week that an Indiana high school was within its rights when it allegedly forced music teacher John Kluge to quit, after he refused to use students' preferred names and pronouns. Kluge said doing so was against his Christian beliefs.

"The 7th Circuit's ruling shows why the Supreme Court needs to fix the standard for accommodating religious employees," said Rory Gray, Kluge's lawyer from the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.

At first, the school had allowed Kluge to call students by their last names only, but when students and faculty complained, the district backpedaled.

"Kluge's last-names-only practice stigmatized the Transgender students and caused them demonstrable emotional harm," wrote Circuit Judge Ilana Rovner. The potential disruption of his conduct on students' learning outweighed his religious beliefs.