The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of laws in Idaho and West Virginia that ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports teams at public schools and universities.
The court issued a 6-3 ruling on Tuesday in Washington, reversing lower court ruling that had sided with transgender students.
The ruling went against two transgender students, Lindsey Hercox and Becky Pepper-Jackson, who challenged laws in Idaho and West Virginia, respectively. Hercox and Pepper-Jackson challenged the bans as violating the U.S. Constitution and a federal anti-discrimination law.
The court announced it would review the cases in July 2025. Tuesday marks the end of the court’s current term, which began in October.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the court’s decision, which concluded that the laws don’t violate either the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which requires that the law apply evenly to everyone, or Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in education.
“The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America,” Kavanaugh wrote, according to NBC News.
The Idaho and West Virginia laws designate sports teams at public schools according to biological sex and bar “students of the male sex” from female teams.
Although the ruling only directly concerns Idaho and West Virginia, it will likely affect 25 other states with similar bans, according to NBC News. You can see which states have similar laws in the map seen here.
Last year, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on trans youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy in a 6-3 vote.
Hercox, a 25-year-old college student, initially challenged a law passed in Idaho in 2020 that prohibited transgender women and girls from playing on women’s sports teams in schools and colleges. Hercox tried out for the women’s track and cross-country teams in college without success and has since participated in running and club soccer.
Pepper-Jackson, now a 16-year-old high school sophomore, challenged a West Virginia state law barring transgender girls from participating in female sports when she was just 11 (along with her mother). Pepper-Jackson has taken puberty-blocking medication and estrogen and competed in girls’ cross-country, shot put and discus.
The issue of transgender participation in female sports became a hot-button cultural topic when Lia Thomas began competing for the women’s team in 2022. Donald Trump has also made a leading political issue during his campaign and second term as President.
Trump has signed multiple executive orders affecting transgender rights, including the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports Act” earlier this year, which directs federal agencies to withhold funding from schools that allow transgender students to compete in girls’ sports.
While we’re at it, Gretchen Walsh should not be allowed to compete. Her extreme double jointedness is a huge biological advantage. It’s not fair. She shouldn’t be allowed to compete.
Good for women. Bad for men pretending to be women. Pretty simple. Glad we are finally having a bit of sanity prevail in politics for the first time in quite a while.
Sure would be awful if kids – literal kids – could play on school sports teams with their friends.
Yet again I am baffled by a SN post, and this one doesn’t even have graphics.
Another worthless post from Steve Nolan.
-Hook EM
Yet another brain dead Steve take
Where’s that “Everybody Love Freddy” guy when SN needs him?
Sonion why is this a debate😭
COVID lockdowns melted the brains of so many people and then so many states’ education departments decided to just pass kids along without caring if they actually are doing well. Prob not related but wanted to bring it up anyways. Mainly, virtue signaling became “cool” during COVID among young people, so lots of them support mens in women’s sports just because it’s the “moral” thing to do. Glad people are finally coming to their senses.
Oh wow you suck
“The issue of trans-gender participation in female sports has become a hot-button topic over the last 18 months since President DT took office for his second term.”
That’s not really true. It has been a huge issue ever since Thomas. Just now is the first time when people decided to do something about it. They have a biological advantage. Its not fair. That’s all it comes down to.
With this ruling in particular, it’s literally just amateur sports.
And ofc course there’s much more that goes into it, can’t really boil it down to one thing.
Good. Glad we’re out of the era where letting men compete in women’s sports was even considered to be okay
I also think the MLB should un-retire Jackie Robinson’s number. Really went too far with that.
And on the last day of Pride month? This administration sickens me.
Would love to declare that as some kind of conspiracy by the administration, but this was the last day of the term for the Supreme Court so the timing is coincidental.
What’s sickening is that liberals believe that the only thing that separates men for women is each person’s gender identity. Katie Ledecky is BY FAR the greatest female distance swimmer of all time. Her short course mile time barely puts her at 23 currently. Men and women are different. We can’t allow unathletic men to dominate in women’s sports and perverts enter our locker rooms
That’s quite a generalized statement to say “liberals”. There are some but most liberals I know support the majority of trans rights but don’t support trans women competing against cis women. Plus the majority of true trans people are not perverts, as they just want to live their lives and just simply use the bathroom.
This.
That’s why liberals can’t be counted on to have any sort of backbone.
Supporting the “majority” of trans rights just gives the game away about so much of what makes modern liberalism a failure.
We’re with you! We support you! Until we don’t.
Ah! “The Liberals”.
Well, I’m glad you made yourself clearer.
Why would liberals support trans women competing against cis women? I assume by your comment you are okay with trans women competing against cis women?
Because trans women are women, so they should compete in the women’s category. Pretty simple, really.
Somehow, trans girls competing in girls sports is just as hard for people to figure out.
Trans women are trans women
You mean the last day of a made up identity topic that further divides people….
I bet you support Hetero Pride, amirite?
Sure do! Love that I can have kids
Thank you for confirming exactly what I suspected!
Glad you support bio women. Also, if you’re a man, you shouldn’t be giving your 2 cents on this. just saying
You really think transgender athletes should compete in women’s sports?
Transgender athletes are going to be able to compete in girls sports either way. They just picked the wrong ones.
Which are “the right ones”, Stevo?
I’ll wait.
This ruling forces transgender boys to compete in the “girls” category. Samuel just said “athletes” which isn’t a gender-neutral term, as far as I know.
The developers finally patched the game, and Lia Thomas’s ‘cheat code’ status has officially been nerfed