Former AG’s file friend-of-the-court brief

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK)-Three former Idaho attorneys general filed a brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday detailing why they think Idaho House Bill 500 in unconstitutional. The law bars transgender women and girls from participating in school sports and subjects all women and girl athletes to the threat of invasive testing.

This is the first time the three attorneys general have filed an “amicus curiae” friend-of-the-court brief in any case.  The three include republicans Jim Jones and Wayne Kidwell and democrat W. Anthony (Tony) Park.

In their brief, the attorneys general urge the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court to uphold the Idaho federal district court’s injunction barring enforcement of the law.

The three contend the legislature is squandering scarce public resources on dubious legislation.  “Most upsetting, however, is the message that the Act has sent to Idaho’s transgender citizens and their families, friends, and allies,” the former attorneys general state in the brief. “In purporting to level the playing field, the Act has excluded an entire group of women from meaningful participation in sports.” The former attorneys general, “wish to assure those individuals that the Act represents neither the values of Idaho, as Amici Curiae have come to understand them throughout decades of public service, nor the views of all Idahoans.”

According to the Idaho ACLU, the Hecox v. Little lawsuit was brought on behalf of Lindsay Hecox, a student at Boise State University who is transgender and had been planning to try out for the cross-country team, and Jane Doe, a senior at Boise High School who is cisgender and concerned about being subjected to the law’s invasive “sex verification” testing. In August, a federal judge blocked Idaho’s law targeting transgender student athletes allowing girls and women who are transgender or intersex to participate in school sports in Idaho.

You can read the full document here.