Skip to content

Supreme Court lets states ban transgender athletes from women's sports

sportsJun 30, 2026733,058

In a 6-3 decision the Supreme Court upheld Idaho and West Virginia laws that allow schools to exclude transgender women and girls from female athletic teams. The majority, in an opinion reportedly authored by Justice Kavanaugh, held that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause do not prevent states from categorically excluding trans athletes from sex-separated school sports. The Court denied as-applied challenges under intermediate scrutiny and rational basis, and a separate concurrence by Justice Gorsuch said because Congress did not mention transgender athletes in Title IX schools retain discretion. Justice Sotomayor wrote a partial dissent urging judicial restraint and warning the litigation raises sensitive, evolving issues without sufficient evidentiary development. The decision resolves the cases brought by two transgender athletes who sued to compete on girls and women’s teams and leaves states free to enforce or enact similar bans unless Congress or later rulings change federal law. Expect immediate effects in K-12 and college sports in states with such statutes and new litigation strategies from advocates seeking federal protections.

Mark Joseph Stern
@mjsdc.bsky.social

The Supreme Court's first decisions are the trans athlete cases. By a 6–3 vote, the court holds that Title IX and the equal protection clause do NOT stop states from excluding trans women and girls from female sports teams. The three liberals dissent. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

4843h ago
Quoting this
Meg Linehan60

Don’t really have words for how ghoulish this is and the fact that they released it today.

the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist)27

Pack the Court or Lose The Republic.

Claire Watkins24

As disappointing as it is predictable, we all do but the kids in this country deserve so much better than this

Ryan Rosenblatt21

This decision, and the rhetoric in the opinion, is so gross and ghoulish and indefensible that future generations are going to look back and wonder how these justices could be so wrong and so hateful. It’s Plessy v. Ferguson type of evil and I hope an after life exists so they can burn in hell.

autumn wright 🍂16

my completely non-expert impression on all this + recent rhetoric is that conservatives want to deny trans people are even a class of people who could be experiencing untenable levels employment, housing, healthcare, and education discrimination

AkivaMCohen16

Decision is 9-0 on Title IX. On Equal Protection, the entire argument was focused on the wrong claim ("it's a violation of equal protection to ban *all* biological males from women's sports, rather than only cis ones"), which made it a "you're discriminating against some biological males" claim

char16

absolutely fuck the fuck off. women’s sports are for all women.

LorennaCleary.bsky.social14

This country is such a damn mess.

Mike Fragassi14

A.G. Sulzberger, and Jesse Singal, are absolute scumbags for helping provide cover for this shit, under the guise of "concern".

Alyssa Long9

But they’re just asking questions right. They just have some concerns right. Fuck every single person who told me I was being unreasonable by refusing to entertain these people. The middle of the road DOESN’T WORK. Pick a side and defend it like you fucking mean it.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

Notably, the three liberals did not fully dissent, and concurred that Title IX does not bar states from excluding trans athletes (Sotomayor writes "although on a narrower basis than that on which the majority relies"). They would have found that the laws violated Equal Protection, though.

2562h ago
3 sources