The Supreme Court has spoken. States may protect women’s sports.
On Tuesday, the justices ruled for West Virginia and Idaho against transgender athletes who sued for access to girls’ teams. The vote was 6-3. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority. The states were defended by Alliance Defending Freedom. The athletes were represented by the ACLU and Cooley.
The cases were West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox. The Court upheld state laws requiring student-athletes to compete on teams matching their biological sex at birth, not their gender identity.
The holding was plain: consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, states may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females, and may set eligibility by biological sex.
Justice Sotomayor concurred in part and dissented in part, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson. Jackson wrote separately, also concurring in part and dissenting in part.
West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey called it a victory for every female athlete who ever competed, or dreamed of competing, on a fair field.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms what common sense and the law have long made clear: states have the right to designate sports teams based on biological sex, not gender identity,” he said. Without that line, he warned, Title IX is turned on its head and decades of progress for female athletes are erased.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador echoed him. “Today’s decision is a victory for common sense, fairness, and the countless girls and women who dedicate themselves to athletics,” he said. Idaho was the first state to protect women’s sports, he noted, and he never wavered in defending the law. Every parent, he added, can rest assured the law protects their daughters competing in Idaho.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon followed. The ruling, she said, affirms the right of states to keep men out of women’s sports, protect female spaces, and shield women from discrimination based on sex. For years, she argued, ideologues distorted Title IX to push a radical agenda and harmed women in the process. The Trump administration has fought to restore those protections since Day One. This ruling cements the reforms, she said, and the work of ensuring every school follows the law goes on.
At the center of the fight were two laws: West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act and Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. Both had been blocked after transgender athletes sued and won at the appeals level. The states lost round after round. Then, last July, the Supreme Court agreed to hear both. Oral arguments came in January. Now the laws stand.
The ruling is a sweeping win for the Save Women’s Sports movement and the conservative lawmakers who built it. It validates and protects the 27 other state laws passed in recent years to keep biological males out of women’s sports.
President Trump declared victory. “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!!!,” he wrote on Truth Social. He campaigned on the issue and has long criticized universities that let transgender athletes compete against women.
The line is drawn. The states may hold it.
