States Can Ban Transgender Athletes From Girls' Teams, Supreme Court Rules
Twenty-seven states bar biological boys.
States can restrict biological males identifying as transgender from competing on girls’ sports teams, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
In a pair of cases from West Virginia and Idaho, the court unanimously held the states’ laws do not violate Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments. By a 6-3 vote, the court also ruled the laws do not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection clause.
Writing for the majority on the constitutional issue, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, “The term ‘sex’ in Title IX” and “the Title IX regulations cannot plausibly be interpreted to refer to anything other than biological sex.” He added, “The ordinary meaning of the term ‘sex’ at the time of enactment in the early 1970s was biological sex and not gender identity, particularly in the sports context.” And the states’ laws “maintaining female sports teams for biological females” are not unconstitutional, he wrote.
In the cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, transgender athletes and advocates argued gender identity should determine eligibility.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented in part on the constitutional question, but all nine justices agreed the state laws do not violate Title IX.
Ms. Sotomayor, who read her dissent from the bench, said the claims raised in the West Virginia case by plaintiff B.P.J. — a biological male who identifies as transgender and argued medical treatment eliminated any competitive advantage associated with male puberty — should have been weighed more fully by lower courts before the Supreme Court resolved the constitutional question.
Instead, she wrote, “in an opinion unencumbered by fact or law, the majority today cuts off that process prematurely. This litigation implicates deeply sensitive, contentious, and evolving issues. These circumstances demand exercising judicial restraint, not rushing to answer conclusively difficult questions without sufficient evidentiary development.”
President Trump hailed the ruling, writing on his Truth Social platform, “BIG WIN: The United States Supreme Court just RULED AGAINST MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS. Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!!!”
Along with West Virginia and Idaho, 25 other states have enacted laws restricting biological males from participating in female sports. There are 23 states where such participation is either permitted by law or statewide policy remains unclear.
Supporters of transgender athletes expressed dismay at the outcome.
“This ruling is heartbreaking for transgender student athletes who are being forced to sit on the sidelines simply for who they are,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said. “When politicians convince the public that any girl could be ‘the wrong kind of girl,’ they invite harassment, intimidation, invasive questioning, or even an inspection of their body by a total stranger.”
Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines celebrated the decision, but noted: “Justice Jackson, Kagan, and Sotomayor ruled against women having equal protection under the law. Liberal women, yet again, prove to be the biggest hurdle women face.”
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