US Supreme Court upholds state bans on transgender athletes in female school sports, affecting 25 states
The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that states can bar transgender women and girls from competing on female school sports teams, upholding laws in Idaho and West Virginia and giving a green light to similar bans in more than two dozen other states.
The ruling
On the final day of its term, the Supreme Court upheld two state laws that prohibit transgender students from participating in women’s sports at public schools and universities. The 6-3 vote fell along ideological lines, with the conservative supermajority reversing lower-court decisions that had blocked the measures as unconstitutional and discriminatory.
The cases
The court considered challenges brought by two transgender athletes. Lindsay Heckox, a university student, and Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 15-year-old, had sued after Idaho and West Virginia passed laws that classify athletic teams by "biological sex" and explicitly bar male-born students from female teams. Federal district courts had issued injunctions, finding the laws likely violated the US Constitution and federal anti-discrimination statutes. The states appealed, and the Supreme Court has now sided with them.
National impact
More than two dozen Republican-led states have enacted similar restrictions. Because the Supreme Court’s decision creates binding precedent, those laws now stand on firmer legal ground. The ruling marks a significant victory for conservatives in one of the country’s most polarising cultural battles over transgender rights.
Broader context
The decision may have ripple effects beyond athletics. Republican-controlled legislatures have pursued a range of measures targeting the trans community, including bathroom access restrictions, limits on the use of chosen names and pronouns in schools, and reductions in anti-harassment protections. The ruling could influence how lower courts evaluate those policies in the future.
Other court actions
The Supreme Court term also saw rulings on unrelated matters. On Monday it dealt a win to President Donald Trump by upholding his authority to fire heads of independent agencies at will, though it carved out an exception for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who remains in post pending litigation. The court was also expected to rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
