Sports

The Trans Athlete at the Center of the Supreme Court’s Biggest Sports Case Won West Virginia’s State Championship

By Curtis Jones · May 29, 2026

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling in the case of B.P.J. v. West Virginia sometime before the end of June. The ruling will determine whether West Virginia’s law banning transgender girls from competing in girls’ school sports is constitutional. Becky Pepper-Jackson, the 15-year-old at the center of that case, is the defendant.

Last Saturday, she won the West Virginia girls’ state shot put championship.

At the May 23 state finals, Pepper-Jackson won the shot put with a throw that surpassed the second-place finisher by more than two feet. She also placed fourth in the discus — an event she had won at regionals with a throw 29 feet beyond her nearest competitor. She participates under a federal court order that has kept her eligible to compete throughout the legal battle. West Virginia’s athletic authority has said it complies fully with that order.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on January 13. Based on the questioning, most legal analysts believe the Court’s conservative majority is prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia — which would mean Pepper-Jackson could no longer compete in girls’ sports under state law when the ruling comes down.

The West Virginia attorney general’s office described the state championship result as evidence of exactly the harm it argues girls in women’s sports have been subjected to while the law’s enforcement has been blocked. “What has already happened by putting West Virginia’s law on hold is that girls have already been harmed,” said one attorney involved in the state’s arguments.

Pepper-Jackson’s attorneys at the ACLU see it differently. The case, in their framing, is about whether a girl can participate in school sports with her peers — and Pepper-Jackson has been clear throughout about her own framing.

“I’m not here to get an advantage. I’ve been pushed down and have people that just look at me nasty my whole life. And I’ve learned that that’s just something I’m going to have to deal with.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling — expected by late June — will apply not just to West Virginia but will likely shape transgender sports policy in more than 20 other states with similar laws. It is the most consequential ruling on transgender rights in American high school sports ever issued by the Court.

The shot put championship was not what Pepper-Jackson said she was competing for. “I just want to enjoy time with my friends,” she told reporters in April.

She won anyway.