Washington, DC – January 13, 2026 – Cooley appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States as it heard oral arguments in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox, two cases challenging laws that categorically bar transgender girls and women from participating on girls’ and women’s school sports teams.

Cooley partner Kathleen Hartnett presented argument for Lindsay Hecox, a transgender woman who challenged an Idaho law barring all transgender girls and women from participating on girls’ and women’s school sports teams. In partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Legal Voice, Cooley has represented Hecox since 2020, when the firm successfully secured a preliminary injunction on behalf of Hecox on the rationale that she was likely to succeed on her equal protection clause challenge to the ban. This injunction was later affirmed at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, allowing Hecox to participate in club soccer and running in college.

Cooley, alongside the ACLU, ACLU of West Virginia and Lambda Legal, also filed a lawsuit on behalf of Becky Pepper-Jackson in May 2021, challenging West Virginia’s House Bill 3293, which barred Pepper-Jackson from participating on middle school girls’ sports teams because she is transgender. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit determined that the West Virginia law cannot be applied to prevent Pepper-Jackson from participating on girls’ sports teams in April 2024.

The Cooley team is led by Hartnett and includes partners Raymond Tolentino and Ephraim McDowell, special counsel Joshua Revesz and Patrick Hayden, and associates Katelyn Kang, Elias Kim, Valeria Pelet del Toro, Elizabeth Reinhardt, Zoë Helstrom and Celene Chen.

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