Takeaways from Supreme Court arguments on transgender athletes

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority indicated Tuesday it is likely to side with two states that have enacted bans on transgender athletes playing on girls’ sports teams, delving into a divisive culture war dispute that could have implications far beyond sports.

For over three hours, the justices waded through exceedingly technical debates and hypotheticals as they tried to assess whether the bans enacted by Idaho and West Virginia are consistent with the 14th Amendment or a landmark 1972 law that bars discrimination in schools. The court’s decision could affect similar laws in more than half the country.