US Supreme Court upholds transgender sports ban

The US Supreme Court has upheld state laws that bar transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The ruling upholds laws in Idaho and West Virginia that bar transgender women and girls from playing on female sports teams. The Idaho and West Virginia laws designate sports teams at public schools, including universities, according to “biological sex” and bar “students of the male sex” from female teams.

The justices overturned decisions by lower courts siding with transgender students who challenged the bans in the two states as violating the US Constitution and a federal anti-discrimination law.

The court decided 9-0 that the state laws do not violate the Title IX civil rights statute that bars discrimination in education “on the basis of sex”.

However, the justices were divided 6-3 in deciding that the measures also do not violate the Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.

“Consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we hold that the states may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females. They may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex. The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women’s and girls’ sports throughout America,” conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority.

More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes. The high court’s decision will likely extend to them as well.

This is the latest ruling from the majority conservative court that curbs the rights of transgender people. Last year, the Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a policy blocking transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers that align with their gender identity.

Trump celebrated Friday’s ruling, calling it a “big win” on Truth Social.

“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!!!”

Trump has taken a hard line on transgender rights since returning to office in January 2025. He has rejected the concept of gender identity and issued multiple executive orders limiting transgender rights, including the one on sports participation.