Supreme Court justices appeared Tuesday to favor states' arguments for keeping transgender athlete bans in female sports.

While several conservative justices on the nine-member court appeared skeptical of arguments that bans broadly discriminate on the basis of sex and gender identity, the liberal justices suggested the athletes could still narrowly challenge their individual circumstances, The Hill news outlet reported.

“Given that half the states are allowing it, allowing transgender girls and women to participate, about half are not, why would we at this point, just the role of this court, jump in and try to constitutionalize a rule for the whole country while there’s still, as you say, uncertainty and debate?” Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked.

The court has six justices who are considered conservative leaning and three considered liberal leaning. 

Kavanaugh, a President Trump nominee, coached a girls' basketball team at his daughters’ school for years. On Tuesday, he called the rise of female athletics “inspiring” and questioned whether striking down the bans would eliminate decades of progress.

“There’s a harm there, and I think we can’t sweep that aside,” he said.

Justice Samuel Alito noted that female athletes across the country have voiced opposition to biological boys identifying as girls competing against and alongside them.

“What do you say about them. Are they bigots?” Alito asked. “Are they deluded in thinking they are subjected to unfair competition?” 

The Supreme Court heard three hours of oral arguments on Tuesday regarding appeals from Idaho and West Virginia, but the court's opinion will likely impact bans passed in 27 states. The justices' decision is expected by summer. 

The three liberal justices appeared sympathetic to the biological male athletes challenging the bans.  

“The numbers don’t talk about the human beings,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said.