Supreme Court Rules States Can Bar Transgender Athletes From Girls’ and Women’s Sports

The Supreme Court ruled June 30 that states may limit eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the 6-3 majority opinion, holding that under Title IX and the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, schools can base eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports teams on biological sex.

The cases — West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox — centered on laws from West Virginia and Idaho restricting transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s teams. Notably, the ruling removes a constitutional and statutory obstacle to the bans but does not require them — states and schools that have chosen inclusive policies are not mandated to abandon them.

“Title IX allows schools to provide separate women’s and men’s sports teams defined by biological sex; West Virginia and Idaho did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by maintaining female sports teams for biological females.”

The decision upholds state laws that banned or restricted transgender women athletes from participating in women’s school sports teams, and the ruling split along ideological lines, with the three liberal justices dissenting. Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented, with Sotomayor writing that the case centered on a transgender girl who simply wanted to play sports like any other child.

The ruling settles a question 27 states had already answered through legislation — and has broad implications for school athletic programs nationwide.

24-43 West Virginia v. B. P. J. (06/30/2026)