WASHINGTON – Trained military snipers stood on the roof of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday standing guard over a verbal battle between an alliance of women donning shirts that read XX-XY, against a hoard of pink, white and blue-painted activists, some wearing costumes, and some barely wearing anything. 

At one point, the convergence descended into harrowing cries of “Stop cutting off the breasts!” while the other side tried to drown it out with a blunt and repetitive chant of “Trans! Trans! Trans!” 

But inside the court chambers, one side was constantly in full retreat. 

Attorneys for transgender athlete Lindsay Hecox argued to have the very lawsuit that they originally filed, Hecox v Little, dropped as moot now that it was being reviewed by the nation’s highest court. The suit, which was filed in 2020, blocked Idaho’s law to protect women’s sports and allowed Hecox to compete on Boise State’s women’s cross-country team.

And in a defining moment for the trans athlete legal team, it even had to retreat from one of the very arguments it used to try to get the case dropped. Cooley Legal attorney Kathleen Hartnett admitted that Hecox was “unlikely” to graduate in May after the firm previously argued that the athlete’s May graduation would render a ruling about Hecox’s athletic eligibility unnecessary. 

“She’s unlikely to graduate by May, as my friend said, but is hoping to make, through summer credits, to graduate in the fall,” Hartnett said just months after the firm filed a suggestion of mootness, in which Hecox stated, “I am currently enrolled in classes that may allow me to graduate as early as May 2026.”

Earlier in the hearing, Idaho Solicitor General Alan Hurst called out Hecox’s claimed graduation date of May as “not possible” after the state’s leadership did some back-door digging to discover Hecox’s status.

“[Boise State] is a client of Idaho, we asked, and the university confirmed that it’s unlikely to happen in the spring,” Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) legal counsel John Bursch, who has worked with the Idaho and West Virginia AGs on the Supreme Court case, told Fox News Digital. “It just shows that throughout the case, Hecox has flipped back and forth.”

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said that exposing the discrepancy was “important” to their arguments Tuesday. 

“I think it’s important. I don’t think it’s the main issue in the case, but I think it’s important,” Labrador told Fox News Digital. “They could have made that argument when we filed the petition for review … but they didn’t. They only did that after cir was granted.”

The plaintiffs appeared to retreat again during oral arguments for the second case. 

In that case, over a West Virginia trans teen who also sued to block a state law meant to keep males out of girls’ sports, American Civil LIberties Union (ACLU) attorney Joshua Block suggested that “sex” should not be defined.

“I really urge the court not to do it on the definition of sex argument,” Block said, later adding. “I don’t think the purpose of Title IX is to have an accurate definition of sex. I think the purpose is to make sure that sex isn’t being used to discriminate by denying opportunities.”

But after grilling from Chief Justice John Roberts, who insisted sex “must mean something,” Block conceded that sex should be defined by biology for the sake of this case, but this case only.

“I think for this case, you can accept, for the sake of this case, that we’re talking about what they’ve termed to be biological sex,” he said. 

Fox News Digital asked Block what his definition of “sex” is, and he declined to give a definition.

“I don’t think that’s what, that’s what’s at issue in this case. What’s at issue in this case is fair treatment for all people, including cis people and trans people, and that’s what we’re hear to talk about to today,” Block answered.

Fox News Digital attempted to ask Block why sex should not be defined in the case, but the attorney walked away and did not take any further questions.

Unlike the ADF, Idaho and West Virginia attorneys who stood in the courtyard of the Supreme Court and took multiple questions from reporters, and even kept offering questions when the press had nothing left to ask, Block and his ACLU colleagues only answered the singular question about defining sex after offering preprepared statements. 

Hartnett, whose previous claim to fame was helping a San Francisco man get a second-degree murder conviction vacated, said she was “proud” of her legal team’s efforts on Tuesday.

“I was particularly proud here today to be able that the court understood the serious discrimination the transgender community has faced,” Hartnett said. 

Just then, Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings, who has co-counseled both cases, jumped in to loudly declare the West Virginia trans athlete “an American hero!”

“Because she stood up for millions of other kids today and said ‘we belong, we matter, we are equal!’” Jennings shouted.

Jennings’ hesitation-less declaration of the West Virginia teen a hero came amid the backdrop of sexual harassment allegations that were leveled against the athlete prior to the hearing by former teammate Adaleia Cross. 

The ACLU denied the allegations in a previous statement to Fox News Digital. 

“Our client and her mother deny these allegations, and the school district investigated the allegations reported to the school by A.C. and found them to be unsubstantiated. We remain committed to defending the rights of all students under Title IX, including the right to a safe and inclusive learning environment free from harassment and discrimination,” the statement read.

The trans athlete then denied the allegations to The New York Times in a story that was published Monday, saying “I was not raised like that.” 

Still, West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey acknowledged the allegations at a press conference just one day before the hearing on Monday. 

“Any time you think of a child being harassed, it gives you pause as a parent. And it isn’t really part of our case, but harassment of any child of any kind in this country is inappropriate. And it’s wrong, and we all need to stand up to ensure that children aren’t being harassed in any of their venues, particularly athletics,” McCuskey said.

THE ATHLETES, COACHES, LAWMAKERS AND OFFICIALS WHO HAVE PICKED A SIDE IN THE SCOTUS WOMEN’S SPORTS BATTLE

When Fox News Digital attempted on Tuesday to ask Block about McCuskey’s statement, the attorney walked away, ignoring multiple questions. 

But the allegations would surface in greater and more emotional detail hours later.

On Tuesday night, during the ADF Gala in Washington, D.C., to celebrate oral arguments, Cross’s mother Abby Cross took the stage and became visibly emotional as she recounted the details of the trans athlete’s alleged sexual harassment against her daughter.

Several individuals in attendance were seen crying, wiping tears from her eyes during the dialogue. 

Former San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser, who unknowingly shared changing spaces and sleeping spaces with a biological male teammate in the 2023 season, was there and admitted she was one of those in attendance who shed tears during Abby Cross’s speech.

“It tugged at my heart. I mean, a lot of these things do, but it was hard to hear from a mother especially,” Slusser told Fox News Digital. “It’s awful. It brought tears to my eyes.”

Former North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb, who suffered permanent brain injuries after being spiked in the head by a trans opponent, said the alleged story made her “physically sick.”

“Hearing that story honestly made me physically sick. This is exactly why we are fighting, because this is what is happening to young girls. It’s not a secret. People know this is happening, yet girls are being told to be quiet, to be inclusive, to accept harassment,” McNabb told Fox News Digital. 

“No girl, especially no child, should ever experience that. The fact that some people excuse it or even celebrate it is pure evil.”

But the mood of the event shifted as the night progressed amid optimistic messages by the “Save Women’s Sports” activists and attorneys, many of whom believed they walked away from Tuesday’s hearing with a definitive win. 

The consensus among pundits is that the Supreme Court justices and its conservative majority appear prepared to allow Idaho, West Virginia and other states across the U.S. to uphold its laws to keep biological males out of women’s and girls’ sports. 

Labrador shared in that optimism.

“I think the arguments are on our side,” Labrador said. 

“I was actually surprised how the judges, who I assume are not going to be as friendly to our side, were really struggling with the questions that we’re going before the court, and they were trying to find a way to articulate the other side’s position, and even they were having a hard time articulating the other side’s position.” 

A decision is expected by this summer.

McCuskey has said he is optimistic that the court will rule 9-0 in favor of West Virginia and Idaho. Labrador expects a win, but believes 9-0 is too optimistic. 

In addition to a potential new legal precedent, the culture movement around the issue only appeared to gain more fuel on Tuesday. 

XX-XY Athletics co-founder Jennifer Sey told Fox News Digital that the brand is now getting more than 30 brand ambassador applications per week from college athletes — a dramatic turnaround from the brand’s first year in 2024 when Sey had to be the one pursuing endorsers. 

Nowhere was the growing cultural movement more visible than the protest outside the court, which saw women from across the country who have spoken out about their experiences with transgender athletes, led by the likes of Slusser, McNabb and Riley Gaines. 

“It was definitely surreal,” Slusser said of the rally, who is eagerly awaiting resolution on the case, saying “the unknowing of what’s going to happen next and not getting an answer yet,” is hard for her.

Women’s fencer Stephenie Turner, who went viral for kneeling in protest of a trans athlete and getting disqualified for it last spring, was refreshed to be surrounded by so many people who agreed with her on the issue. 

“It was amazing to be in a room with people who are in agreement on common sense for the first time. Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy on this issue when I talk to people who are on the fence about men and women’s sports, it’s nice to be in a room with people who are clear decisive language and know what, this is a zero-sum game and that we must be on the side of protecting women and girls,” Turner told Fox News Digital. 

When looking at the pro-trans protesters they were clashing with, McNabb couldn’t help but wonder how they got to that point. 

“I didn’t interact with them directly, but watching from a distance was honestly sad,” McNabb said. “What stood out most to me was the number of women over there actively opposing their own rights — it’s completely bizarre.” 

Pro women’s golfer Lauren Miller, who spoke out against transgender golfer Hailey Davidson and helped prompt the first rule change in major pro women’s sports to protect the sport from biological males in late 2024, also felt mixed emotions seeing the other side on Tuesday.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I’ve never seen anything like that before…. to face it directly and to see it, it really made me understand the weight of what we’re doing,” Miller told Fox News Digital. 

“I feel for them because they’ll never have the peace and the joy and the purpose that we have on our side… I really hope they can see the light because their world will be a lot better.”

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

A 52-year-old Florida man walked away unharmed after his powered paraglider dropped 500 feet out of the sky and splashed into the ocean on Friday, authorities said.

The dramatic fall happened just before noon off the coast of Singer Island near Riviera Beach, the Riviera Beach Police Department said. Bystanders captured the incident on cellphone video.

Sarah Williamson, a lifeguard with Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue, told WFLX-TV that she first noticed the paraglider was in trouble upon seeing that he was “going in an interesting pattern” after hitting an apparent wind gust.

“I just started running, and I radioed my other partner,” she said. “We grabbed our rescue tube and our rescue board and paddled out in tandem.”

PARACHUTIST BRIEFLY HANGS ABOVE END ZONE DURING ARMED FORCES BOWL PREGAME MISHAP

The lifeguards and nearby beachgoers immediately swam out to help the man, police said.

Williamson said a snorkeler dove underwater and helped free the man from a tangle of paraglider lines.

“(The snorkeler) was a godsend because we did not have a mask, and he was able to get underwater and free the man while we secured him,” she told the outlet.

LA DEPUTIES CAUGHT ON CAMERA RACING INTO FOGGY OCEAN TO RESCUE DISORIENTED PARAGLIDERS

Police said the rescuers brought the 52-year-old paraglider and his craft to shore. He was not injured.

The paraglider, from Pompano Beach, had lifted off from Ocean Cay Park in Jupiter and sailed south until the 500-foot fall into the water.

The man’s identity has yet to be released to the public.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Williamson said she was “quite blown away” to learn how far the paraglider fell before making the unplanned splashdown.

“Five hundred feet is an incredible thing to survive,” she said.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

The Virginia trial of Brendan Banfield, a former IRS special agent accused of being the mastermind behind a grisly double murder to cover up an affair with his family’s au pair, kicked off Tuesday with his mistress taking the stand to provide an explosive firsthand account of the alleged killings. 

Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of his wife, Christine Banfield, and Joseph Ryan inside their home in Herndon, Virginia, an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C.

Prosecutors allege Banfield spent a month impersonating his wife on a fetish website to lure Ryan to the family’s home and carry out the double murder to hide an ongoing affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair, then-22-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhães.  

“Those two individuals had no reason to know each other but for the plotting and planning of Brendan Banfield,” prosecutor Jenna Sands said in opening statements, referring to Ryan and Christine Banfield.

AFFLUENT VIRGINIA SUBURB ROCKED AS TRIAL BEGINS FOR EX-FEDERAL AGENT HUSBAND IN NANNY LOVE-TRIANGLE MURDERS

However, at the time of the alleged murders, Magalhães told investigators she and Banfield discovered Ryan stabbing Christine inside the home and both opened fire to stop the intruder. 

Defense attorney John Carroll insisted in his opening statement that Magalhães was arrested in October 2023 in an effort to pit her against Banfield during his trial. 

“The whole reason she was arrested was to flip her against my client,” Carroll said. 

Magalhães pleaded guilty to manslaughter in October 2024 and will be sentenced after Banfield’s trial. 

AFFLUENT VIRGINIA HUSBAND, NANNY CHARGED WITH MURDERS IN MANSION LOVE TRIANGLE

In explosive testimony, Magalhães took the stand to detail how her relationship with Banfield went from professional to sexual. 

“We barely spoke,” Magalhães said. “My relationship was mostly with Christine and [the couple’s child].” 

Magalhães testified that the pair became intimate in August 2022, and how she first became aware of Banfield’s alleged plan to kill his wife while the pair were on a trip to New York with Banfield’s young child just two months later, with Banfield declining to file for divorce instead. 

“He mentioned his plan to get rid of [Christine],” Magalhães told the prosecution. “Initially, he didn’t know what he would do. He just mentioned that he would think about it [and] let me know when he thought about it.” 

VIRGINIA AU PAIR MURDER: FETISH PLOT, AFFAIR, GUN RANGE TIED TO DOUBLE HOMICIDE AT HOME, PROSECUTORS REVEAL

Magalhães explained on the stand that Banfield used his wife’s email and photograph to create an account on a fetish website under a fake name, while also conspiring to create an alibi in the event of a murder investigation. 

“He knew that we needed to have some alibis,” Magalhães testified. “He knew that he needed to change his routine a few weeks prior. So it wouldn’t be odd that he wasn’t, you know, just at McDonald’s on that day, specifically.” 

Prosecutors allege that Banfield and Magalhães propositioned men on the fetish website to enter the family’s home under the guise of a consensual sexual encounter, ultimately deciding on Ryan as their victim. 

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

“He made Brendan feel confident enough that he would be the person to play the role, which means being aggressive and holding her down and coming over to the house and bringing stuff and all that,” Magalhães said. 

“Brendan created the narrative that Christine desperately wanted to be raped,” Sands explained in her opening statement. “Posing as Christine, he told Joe what to do: Come to the home in Reston. The door will be unlocked. Christine will be asleep in bed. Come straight upstairs, cut off her clothing, tie her, rape her. Simple and fun.” 

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Before Ryan arrived at the home, Banfield went to a nearby McDonald’s and awaited Magalhães’ call regarding an intruder at the home, the au pair testified. 

“After calling Christine, I called Brendan, and then he picked up the phone and I was telling him, ‘Stay away, there’s somebody strange and come to the house, I’m scared,’” Magalhães said. “He told me to stay there. He will be coming home, and he will try to call Christine.” 

SEND US A TIP HERE

As the encounter unfolded, Banfield and the au pair put his young child in the basement with her iPad before entering the Banfields’ bedroom, where Banfield shot Ryan with his service weapon and stabbed his wife while Magalhães held a firearm he had purchased a month before the alleged killing, according to prosecutors. 

“When I got to the bedroom, Brendan yelled, ‘Police officer,’ and Christine’s first reaction – it was the first time I heard her say anything at that point – and she yelled back at Brendan, saying, ‘Brendan, he has a knife,’ and that’s when Brendan first shot Joe,” Magalhães said. 

LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

Magalhães then testified, in graphic detail, how Banfield climbed on top of his wife and stabbed her in the neck while she covered her eyes and ears on the other side of the bed.  

“I had put my hands on the carpet and as soon as I felt blood, I just removed my hands from the carpet,” Magalhães said, adding that blood also soaked into her shoes and socks.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Banfield then allegedly staged the crime scene to appear as though it was a home invasion, with Magalhães then calling 911 to tell authorities Ryan was an intruder who had stabbed Christine, Sands added. 

Banfield’s attorney did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

If convicted, Banfield would face the possibility of life in prison. The trial is expected to last four weeks. Court sessions will begin at 10 a.m. each day and run Monday through Thursday, according to court administrators.

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.