Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced that she and the city would back the Seattle School Board’s unanimous vote to begin legal action to block enforcement of Initiative 638, which requires separating boys and girls in K-12 sports in Washington state. Voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative in 36 of the state’s 39 counties. Critics have charged that Wilson and other Seattle Democrats are seeking to negate the popular vote after campaigning on “saving democracy.” The greater challenge, however, is the legal basis for such an action in light of recent Supreme Court rulings.
Wilson issued a statement that she would back the School Board in refusing to accept the result of the election in order to maintain “a Seattle where every person is welcomed, supported, and valued, and where all young people can thrive as their authentic selves.”
The question is the grounds for such an action and whether the Board will burn millions on a quixotic challenge that could establish even more negative precedent for blue states on the issue.
The Court recently handed down decisions in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, ruling in favor of such state limits. The Court specifically ruled that states can exclude transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports teams. Indeed, the justices ruled unanimously that laws enacted by Idaho and West Virginia rejected federal civil rights challenges.
The Kavanaugh decision states that “[c]onsistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we hold that the States may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females. They may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex. The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America.”
That decision followed a 6-3 decision in United States v. Skrmetti, where the Court upheld a Tennessee law banning the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy by transgender teenagers.
In the Kavanaugh opinion, the Court accepted that men and women have “inherent physical differences” that are “relevant to athletic performance.” It accepted the view of these states that “forcing female athletes to compete against males can create significant safety risks” in contact sports. It also found that “in virtually all competitive sports, forcing female athletes to compete against males can undermine competitive fairness.”
Thus, neither the Constitution nor Title IX are viable bases for an attack on the Washington initiative. In light of those decisions, the question is how the Board and the City will fashion its challenge to the election results on Initiative 638.
Jonathan Turley is the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.” He teaches a course on the Constitution and the Supreme Court.
This merely confirms the lesson of history: the Left, communist (Bolshevik, Maoist or otherwise) or socialist (Seattle in this case) is not democratic (as in power to the people, demos – people, kratos – power), but rather a tyranny. Which is why our country fought a revolution back around 1776 in the first place.
A couple thoughts. First, the left insists that there are so few of these instances that they are not worthy of attention. How could they then justify in trying to overturn the will of the people over such a de minimis issue. Second, high minded statements about “authentic selves” aside, refusal to enforce the law would place Seattle in the pantheon of Lester Maddox and George Wallace.
Their baldfaced hypocrisy works for them and the Pravda media never calls them out.
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
A quote from someone the conservatives of the time nailed to a piece of wood and left to die.
Socialists, Communists, Leftists in general (but I repeat myself): “We must save Democracy!”
Everyone else: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Pete Hegseth’s Veterans Day visit to Arlington took a disgraceful turn when a Tomb Guard was forced to reprimand his entourage for laughing and talking loudly near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
His group was taking photos of themselves in front of the Tomb. They were loudly yucking it up and laughing. That’s when the sentinel stopped his march and called out: “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”
If you’ve ever been to the Tomb at Arlington where Hegseth got reprimanded, you know it’s one of the most solemn, emotional places in America. Most would never dream of being loud or laughing while we are there. But Hegseth, on Vet’s Day of all days, is a classless pig.
It isn’t Disneyland!
No respect for the living or the dead. Shameful.
Is there anyone in this administration who isn’t a grotesque pig?
NO !!!!!
Why would we expect anything different?
None of them have an ounce of integrity or respect for anything to do with the military. It’s just a useful pawn to show off American might and power.
But what he did should be grounds for impeachment.
Disgusting
I am very, very proud of this Tomb Guard.
I hope there are no consequences for him.
How shameful that we have to worry about that guard for doing his job because of this petty and vengeful administration.
Pete Hegseth awarded a medal to a soldier who reprimanded him and his aides for talking and laughing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. pic.twitter.com/Iw2p6vuvXR— Clash Report (@clashreport) November 12, 2026
That is what character and leadership look like.
How shameful that you pretend to worry about such a stupid and improbable thing. You do so because you know very well that a Democrat would have retaliated against the soldier. It never even occurred to you that this administration is different, and would praise the soldier for doing the right thing.
They behaved like AOC and Mamdani on the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
“Pete Hegseth’s Veterans Day visit to Arlington”
…was not imposing itself upon female athletes.
You wish. Another predictable comment from a leftist buffoon. You can safely ignore his comment. While I agree that decorum was breeched, the answer to the question of why is ignorance, not intention to desecrate. Of course, most leftists are like a ’56 Chevrolet I once had whose speedometer spring was broken. As far as the car was concerned it was either doing 0 or 120. Having a leftist accelerate to 120 over not much is a daily event at thousands of places in the world.
William Davis
So you believe the reason for this gross desecration is excusable ignorance.
There are signs all over the viewing area at the Tomb of the Unknown that say, “Silence and Respect”
But at least you acknowledge that Hegseth is an IGNORANT pig, so I guess that is a start.
LOL, the people that tell you what to think are morons.
What “gross desecration”? There was no “gross desecration”, just one person inappropriately laughing. The sentinel reminded her of her duty, and that was that. And it had nothing to do with Hegseth, who acted completely appropriately, which is not surprising considering his own service.
Oh please! The left and Democrats hate and despise the freedoms and values those heroes in Arlington fought for. Stop with your faux hypocritical outrage
Not a problem. That soldier will be on permanent latrine duty as soon as the news looks elsewhere. If it looks like they might make a career out of it they will be removed just before they can qualify for retirement benefits. Hegseth is as vindictive a viper as they come.
What the @#$%^ are you talking about? He praised him and gave him a medal!
You want a real laugh? Ask some of those Tomb Guards what it’s like to get felt-up as part of the process of being chosen for the post.
Oh, and go clutch your anal beads elsewhere, loser – no one died for what you want.
His group was […] loudly yucking it up and laughing.
Bull. You made that up. Not a single news report of the incident says that. There was some conversation in the group. Not loud, and no “yucking”. One woman was heard laughing. That is all. And it had nothing to do with Hegseth, who, far from being upset with the sentinel, praised him for doing his duty, and awarded him a medal.
They can bring a claim under some provision of the Washington State Constitution.
Daniel, yes. It’s exactly what they are doing. A little research goes a long way when dealing with the professor’s claims. Because they almost always leave out crucial details that change the whole perspective. His narrative needs those omissions so he can paint this issue as salient and rage-inducing for conservatives and MAGA nuts alike.
Turley frames this on the basis of the Constitution and SCOTUS decisions that have absolutely nothing to do with this case.
Turley “conveniently” left out the fact this is a STATE case and a referendum that is in conflict with a STATE constitution. The board is not just doing this because it is being defiant towards voters wishes. It’s doing this because it’s being put in an impossible legal position and they are absolutely within their rights to challenge the referendum for reasons Turley left out.
Unlike the U.S. Constitution, Washington has an explicit Equal Rights Amendment (Article XXXI) that strictly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Turley completely omits that state constitutions can grant far broader rights than the federal Constitution, and challengers in Washington are suing exclusively in state court under the Washington State Constitution.
Turley’s argument using Idaho and West Virginia as examples of case law he forgot one thing. Idaho and West Virginia laws required both boys’ and girls’ teams to be separated by biological sex—Initiative 638 applies only to girls’ sports. It requires all girls (cisgender and transgender alike) to submit medical verification of their biological sex to play, while imposing zero verification requirements on boys. Opponents argue this unequal burden on female students is a textbook violation of Washington’s ERA.
He leaves out that I-638 requires every girl wishing to play school sports to provide a healthcare provider’s verification based on “reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels”. Critics—including parents of cisgender girls who joined the ACLU lawsuit—argue this creates an invasive medical screening mandate for elementary, middle, and high school girls. Why doesn’t it apply to boys as well? The law only focuses on girls and that is a big problem under Washington’s constitution. The board is asking the state’s Supreme Court to clarify this problem. They are not acting to defy the voters. This is what Turley is not saying. He’s saying this school board is defying voters and because they are Democrats they are against…Democracy. Pretty disingenuous on his part.
Turley completely omits that state constitutions can grant far broader rights than the federal Constitution…
That’s true. The Constitution does not grant any rights. It prevents government from limiting any of our inherent and unalienable rights, much to the dismay of festering pinheads like X.
Well…omitting critical facts about the case does make professor Turley’s characterization of the board’s intentions a dishonest portrayal.
It should disappoint everyone.
State court interpretations of State constitutions can do crazy things. That’s how Massachusetts got a requirement that boys be allowed on girls’ teams whenever a school did not offer a boys’ team in that sport (perhaps even in the same season). So boys in Massachusetts routinely appear on girls’ field hockey and swim teams. This is a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Court’s 1997 interpretation of the then recently passed equal rights amendment to the Massachusetts constitution.
“[Critics] argue this creates an invasive medical screening mandate for elementary, middle, and high school girls. Why doesn’t it apply to boys as well?”
I wish more people would ask that question. The answer is that female to male transgenders overwhelmingly fall short of actual boys in athletic performance. It isn’t even close. It would be very rare for a transgender boy [female to male] to stand out in an all male competition. No threat at all in competition. Everybody knows it so nobody checks or investigates. Why bother?
This is true, and common sense.
Well, maybe if Seattle wants to waste money on this type of litigation with a likelihood of losing it all, then they may have less money to get into other trouble. Of course if they have a budget shortfall then they will likely raise taxes and then drive more people and business out of the city. Long term it seems to be a loser. Also long term, the whole trans phenomena is starting to lose steam. Even the WNBA is now real women only. Fewer and fewer kids are identifying as trans, in polls
Parents should either pull all their female children out of sports or demand higher insurance from the schools to cover the young girls injured by male competitors pretending to be female. If the schools will not cover the insurance demands, go elswhere.
May mean top female volleyball, basketball, softball talent will leave the state and go elsewhere like Idaho.
GEB
Actually, the biologically male student, or his/her parents, should be required to obtain the insurance, not the taxpayers supporting that school district.
The Democrats have demonstrated their disregard for the law over and over. Now, it seems they want to overthrow elections. It seems they are now operating under their own unwritten legal code and constitution.
So much for the ’60’s. They went to California, sowed their wild oats and cultivated more than just grain. The flowers have wilted, they’ve lost their hair, and morphed into the Woke Volksinitiativ. Their Cancel Culture Gestapo infests the entire West Coast with their self-satisfying, self-aggrandizing, virtue signaling, social justice warriors, tossing common sense into hell’s dustbin. They test positive for stupid. There’s no vaccine for it and, if there were, they’d refuse it. Thirty years ago my son left the East Coast and settled in the Seattle area. He married, raised a family, and applied the Harvard acquired gifts to that which brought him to the present day. Now he resides in Florida, where he wisely re-located several years ago, and brought his second startup, a 100 million dollar service corporation, with him. The first, he sold his interest in for $65 million. Seattle was no longer the place for the enterprising. The political establishment in jurisdictions such as Seattle, should be hearing the measured sounds of aspiring feet marching to a different drummer, heading far away, leaving only the trans-dolts and their champions to remain.
Very well said sir.
Great comment, Trapper John. But, unlike your son, too many leave the left coast, move to red states, and continue to vote for the same deranged leftists who made their former state unlivable. Not to mention the apparently successful great replacement. Red states that respect and follow the Constitution are falling like dominoes.
Speaking as a former Washingtonian who moved to now blue AZ and whose plans to relocate to TX are now in the round file.
Creepy Democrats have an obsession with forcing men into girls’ locker rooms. It’s truly disturbing, and reveals much about their own desires.
It’s called deviancy. As in “Deviant Democrats”.
Yes – men can force their own way into locker rooms; they need no help from Democrats.
This is exactly what Trump did with his beauty pageants.
They let him, big difference…sheesh
He was invited, they let him, because they were whoring themselves out – kinda like mayor katie 5-head is whoring herself out to the left
Oh hell yeah – now we see the real power players in Seattle – The SCHOOL BOARD! Bah haha – what a MORON PALACE Seattle has become with the STUPIDITY accelerating during and after COVID. Did all those city residents get infected with the RETARD SPIKE PROTEIN?
Here comes MR. X to recite some AI off topic rant about why boys and girls are equal and also to complain the Turley didn’t write about what he wanted today. Let us wait for his NON-LEGAL reasoning as to why SCOTUS got it wrong and why the Washington courts will prevail. I just love his non-legal reasoning.
Hullbobby, nope. This entire issue is strictly a legal one. FYI, even John Say freely admits AI is useful for legal analysis, because real lawyers actually use it as a highly effective tool for research, drafting motions, and building arguments.
Turley is being completely disingenuous in this article. He intentionally left out critical facts that make the school board’s actions entirely sensible and legally coherent.
Did you know this lawsuit is actually about conflicting legal mandates that put the initiative directly at odds with Washington’s State Constitution? This isn’t about a rogue school board defying voters, as Turley wants your gullible mind to believe. The board is caught between a legal rock and a hard place—facing conflicting mandates between existing state civil rights laws, the state constitution, and the new ballot measure—so they are asking the state courts to clarify which law governs.
Washington’s State Constitution has far stronger civil rights and privacy protections than the U.S. Constitution, which is completely standard under federalism. Unlike the laws in Idaho and West Virginia that Turley cited—which applied equally to both boys’ and girls’ teams—Washington’s initiative applies onlyto girls. It requires every single female student wanting to play school sports to undergo medical verification of their reproductive anatomy, genetics, or hormone levels to prove they aren’t transgender, while imposing zero requirements on boys.
Singling out only girls for invasive medical screenings creates a massive clash with Washington’s state Equal Rights Amendment and strict constitutional privacy protections. Turley’s argument only makes sense if you completely ignore what the law actually says.
Those “stronger civil and privacy rights” are to protect girls privacy and girls civil right to participate in a sport safely.
Hullbobby, no. It’s about discrimination and the unequal application of the law. The referendum only applies to girls who want to join school sports. They are subject to sex verification and a multitude of test to ‘very’ they are not males. The problem is they are not applying the same thing to boys who want to join school sports. It’s contrary to the State’s constitution’s equal rights protections.
Girls are asked to go through a more tedious process to join school sports than boys. That is the problem and the school board needs to have this clarified by the state’s Supreme Court to find out if the referendum cannot be enforced because it violates the state’s Constitution. It doesn’t matter if voters approved the new rules. It’s treated a as legislative action the state’s laws.
Dear X:
I regret your limited understanding of the federal/nation’s Constitution being the “Law of the Land;” the plethora of state constitutional provisions that have been overturned and found unconstitutional by SCOTUS over the last 250 years; and your wholly absent understanding of preemption.
Try again, George. Stay off of AI, Wiki, and Google. Please don’t dictate to others, especially lawyers, what the law is. Truly unbecoming of you if you are a lawyer or a law student.
I provide this for your leisurely perusal: https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/state-laws-held-unconstitutional.html
X wrote about the State CONSTITUTION extending protections above and beyond those afforded by the US Constitution.
The question at hand is whether the STATE LAW violates the STATE CONSTITUTION and has nothing to do with the US Constitution. It also has nothing to do with state constitutional provisions being overturned for being more restrictive of rights than the US Constitution.
Dear Anonymous, thanks for showing me what an idiot you are. Obviously you have a literacy problem. Pretty sad too.
This is about a STATE law in conflict with a STATE constitution. STATE constitutions CAN have stronger protections than the Supreme law of the land. That’s why the board challenged the I-638 referendum’s constitutionality. Because it seems to be in conflict with the STATE’s constitution. It has nothing to do with the board defying voters.
Let us not forget that in the summer of 2020, Seattle voluntarily ceded the center of the city to an unidentified unvetted armed secessionist mob (not wearing covid face masks) who declared their new nation to be CHAZ a/k/a CHOP, free of all American federal, state, and local laws and law enforcement … and Seattle aided and abetted the secessionists with a protectionist barricade, food, and supplies.
The self-centered twat of a mayor finally did something when the soros gremlins showed up outside of her house.
The “center” being a small area. Much the way the city cedes area to a post-game riot for professional sports fans.
Also stunning, COVID is a structurally weak virus that can only survive for a short time outside of human lungs. It takes long periods of close proximity to make an effective transfer. This is why nursing homes and church groups and people in restaurants and aboard ships, were the most affected.
Anonymous,
Thank you for pointing out that Seattle helped an armed insurrectionist mob secede from only a small portion of the United States of America.
Is anyone surprised? Once again, the modern left show that they could give f*** all about what people actually want and will proceed with their tyranny quite happily without us, who are expected to simply submit. The entire West Coast is a dumpster fire.
Was thinking this morning about the time I had to live in CA, and how addicts would dig through public trash cans (gas stations, etc.) pulling out partially eaten food, or old drinks, or cans, and just leaving the rest of the trash on the ground. CA’s solution? Stop putting out trash cans, so now people simply throw it on the ground. I understand that business owners are kind of stuck in that scenario, but it is indicative of the entire leftist mindset, and how people have few choices in those places, and how they become the aforementioned, very expensive, dumpsters.
James
Yet more generic whining about the “modern left” without regard to the actual topic at hand.
All we ever get from you is the this pathetic whining and complaining about the “modern left”, suggesting that you really are some kind of mindless bot programmed with inane, irrelevant comments.
And why aren’t you working? Supposedly you are one of those who “have to work”.
@Anonymous
That is hilarious. Have you considered a career in comedy? Because you are naturally gifted enough to be funny without even trying. Hope Hollywood is knocking down your door. And a secret: if you are funny, you don’t have to be as good looking in Tinsel Town.
James,
I was about to start my comment with “Is anyone surprised?”
Despite the outcome of the election, they still want to try to impose their anti-women’s rights agenda, force biological women to have to not only compete with biological males for titles, scholarships, records, but they will be forced to deal with biological males in women’s locker rooms, bathrooms and other women’s safe spaces.
@Upstate
A bunch of us did. This is all so predictable now, what happened this month is sheer madness. Here is an incomplete list of all that is coming back, with new things surely in the cooker:
Covid
Inflation
Open borders
DEI, CRT
FBI as the secret police
Defund the police
‘Cancellation’
Dangerous and false rhetoric
Massive spending bills
NGOs
Massive fraud
Lawfare
Riots
Afghanistan withdrawal
Ukraine
Reinstating Obama’s Iran deal
Student loan ‘forgiveness’
Ministry of truth
Changing dictionary definitions
Retroactively editing published books
Election cheating
Installing candidates without elections
A weak military
Further declining schools
Reckless climate initiatives
Men in women’s spaces
Transitioning children
Full term abortion
Censorship, attacks on free speech
Appliances that don’t work
Spy balloons flying across the country
Non-existent amendments being declared
‘It was the pressing down of any disagreement or question, it was the constant threat of violence, it was the destruction of the careers and lives of countless people (and the consequent evisceration of the entertainment industry), it was the the removal of choice for vaccines, it was the inflammation of racism, it was the neutering of law enforcement, it was the numbing of meritocracy, it was the dismantling of the spirit of quite a few cities (and the accompanying declining property values), it was the collapse of a political party, it was the crushing of common sense (particularly in the young), it was the ruin of university value, it was the end of trust in the media, it was the fostering of the most selfish era in modern society. It was fascism, intolerance, and decidedly un-American. It was shameful and despicable.’
We are stupid, selfish, people with very, very short memories. But hey – gas is 40 cents cheaper. 😐
Barfing all of that up indicates you may have an intestinal blockage.
Sadly, the challenge will probably be successful.
Why? Because the WA Supreme Court is filled with Democrat partisans. It will find some flaw in the initiative process, nitpicking at its finest. It will never reach the substantive issue of the referendum itself.
Then next step…. SCOTUS!
Huh? How does SCOTUS have jurisdiction over a matter that is entirely about state law?
How sick are these people? to enjoy having young boys competing with and against young girls? They are much more than holier-than-thou people if they support such an awful excuse for sports – in the locker room and on the field/court.
It seems you are supporting DEI, otherwise there would be no “girl’s sports.”
It seems you are way way way over-medicated. You only need a little bit to addle yourself into a leftist fog.
Arrogance and hypocrisy know bounds. When will the electorate wake up and accept the responsibility of informed voting instead of emotions?
Should have been : know no bounds.
This all gets so boring… Get the political hacks out of it… Get the courts out of it… Parents: simply keep your girls out of games where big coward men (who cannot make it against their peers) are playing
Is anyone surprised? Lenin, Kohmeni and Castro didn’t need any legal basis for what they did either.
And what does that have to do with Initiative 638? Did they all have trans kids?
In your world only people with trans kids participate in a democratic republic? Does Mayor 5-head have trans kids?
No surprise.
==
What’s interesting is that in Colorado and Washington state people vote for these measures then turn around and vote for Democratic politicians who are hostile to them and will work to undermine them. Cannot fix stupid.
Who ya gonna call.. SCOTUS!
How does SCOTUS get involved? It’s a question of state law.