Supreme Court upholds transgender athlete bans in schools

The Supreme Court ruled states can bar transgender girls from competing on girls’ and women’s school sports teams, upholding bans in Idaho and West Virginia on Tuesday in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines that is set to impact similar laws passed in more than half the country.

Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected arguments that transgender athlete restrictions unconstitutionally discriminate on the basis of sex or gender identity.

“In other words, may schools determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex? The answer is yes,” Kavanaugh wrote.

“Consistent 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,” he added.

The three liberal justices dissented.

“Its holding may be straightforward, but that is not the point,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“The problem is how the majority gets there: by moving the goalposts set by precedent and by resolving this important, divisive issue without knowing all the facts even though the validity of the means-ends fit depends on them.”

The cases thrust the justices into the center of the national debate surrounding transgender athletes, which spurred more than two dozen Republican-controlled states to pass restrictions.

Idaho became the first state to enact a ban in 2020, and West Virginia was among the states that followed. Transgender athletes backed by the American Civil Liberties Union had hoped to topple both states’ laws.

They argued the bans violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee and Title IX, the federal law that protects against sex discrimination in schools.

Idaho’s law was challenged by Lindsay Hecox, who is transgender and wanted to try out for the Boise State University women’s track and cross-country teams. The state appealed after it lost in the lower courts. Once at the Supreme Court, Hecox disavowed any future plans to compete and urged the justices to toss the case.

The justices considered Idaho’s appeal alongside one from West Virginia, which sought to enforce its law against Becky Pepper-Jackson, a teenage shot-putter and discus thrower who has publicly identified as female since the third grade.

Pepper-Jackson is the only known person to whom the state’s ban has applied. Last month, Pepper-Jackson won a state title in women’s AAA shot put.

The two athletes’ challenges garnered support from LGBTQ advocacy groups, the National Women’s Law Center and 15 Democratic-led states.

The Trump administration voiced support for the states, as did the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, roughly two dozen Republican-led states and individual athletes who’ve vocally supported transgender athlete bans, including Riley Gaines.

The battle landed at the Supreme Court as President Trump broadly targets protections for transgender people in his second term.

On his first day back in office, he signed an executive order proclaiming the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes, male and female. He also prohibited the federal government from promoting “gender ideology” and directed his administration to strip federal grants from programs that allow transgender girls to compete on sports teams aligning with their gender identity.

The administration has also looked to ban transgender people from serving openly in the military, which the Supreme Court last year allowed to take effect, and restrict gender-affirming care for minors.

Updated at 10:26 a.m. EDT