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.
“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.
Good. Glad we’re out of the era where letting men compete in women’s sports was even considered to be okay
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
You mean the last day of a made up identity topic that further divides people….
The developers finally patched the game, and Lia Thomas’s ‘cheat code’ status has officially been nerfed
Glad to see the US Supreme Court’s decision on this issue. I’ve been a long-time financial supporter of girls’ and women’s sports.
I’m sure the comment section will be filled with nuanced, civil discourse