The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld state laws that restrict participation in women's and girls' sports to biological females, a decision lauded by conservative legal groups and state officials as a victory for fairness and by civil rights organizations representing transgender athletes as a harmful setback. The ruling consolidates two cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, addressing the eligibility of transgender girls and women to compete in women's sports.
The court determined that Title IX permits schools to offer separate men's and women's sports teams based on biological sex and that the laws enacted in West Virginia and Idaho do not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented on the Equal Protection aspect, though they agreed with the Title IX portion of the ruling in a 9-0 decision.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented female athletes who intervened in the cases, celebrated the ruling. Jim Campbell, chief legal counsel for ADF, stated that the decision corrects a situation where female athletes have been disadvantaged. "The decision changes all that. It makes clear that states are free to protect women and girls and ensure that their sports remain for them," Campbell said. He added that the ruling affirms states can enact laws protecting fairness, safety, and equal opportunities for women and girls.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador, whose state passed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in 2020, called the decision a victory for common sense and fairness. Labrador, who cited his daughter's experience in high school volleyball as a motivation for defending such laws, emphasized that the case was about protecting biological girls. "The reality is that biological girls were protected today, and that’s what this case was about," Labrador said.
West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey described the ruling as vindicating after experiencing the difficulties of seeing female athletes in his state unable to compete under the state's law while it was blocked. "I know they won’t have to go through that again," McCuskey stated. He credited the legal teams and the female athletes who supported the fight, calling the decision a victory for those young women.
Conversely, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented transgender athletes, expressed disappointment. ACLU senior counsel Joshua Block said in a statement, "This is a heartbreaking ruling for our clients and transgender girls like them who’ve asked for nothing more than the same opportunities afforded to their peers." Lambda Legal, another firm representing transgender athletes, echoed this sentiment, with senior attorney Sasha Burchert calling the ruling "deeply harmful."
The majority opinion emphasized that sports are often "zero sum" and that roster spots, medals, and scholarships can be competitive. The court concluded that states can determine athletic eligibility for women’s teams based on biological sex. The ruling noted that 27 states have enacted laws similar to those in West Virginia and Idaho.
ADF and state officials urged other states that have not yet passed similar legislation to do so. McCuskey also called for congressional action to establish a national policy on the issue. The implications of the ruling on other sex-separated spaces, such as locker rooms and bathrooms, were also raised by supporters of the decision.
While the court's majority opinion was based on Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, the dissenting justices, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, argued that the majority had prematurely ended litigation and that unresolved factual issues should have been returned to lower courts. Sotomayor wrote that the majority "inflicts a hardship on those it disfavors without giving them the fair and full opportunity the Constitution requires to litigate their contentions."