US Supreme Court upholds state bans on transgender athletes in women's sports
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador welcomed the decision, calling it "a victory for common sense" and for "the countless women and girls who dedicate their lives to sports."
In a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court voted 6–3 on Tuesday to uphold state laws barring transgender athletes from competing in women's sports, marking a significant victory for states that have enacted such restrictions.
The decision came in two closely watched cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, in which transgender female athletes challenged laws in West Virginia and Idaho that limit participation in female sports based on biological sex at birth rather than gender identity.
The Court's conservative majority ruled that the laws are consistent with federal law and the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause, allowing the states to enforce restrictions on eligibility for women's sports.
The ruling is expected to strengthen similar laws already in place across the country. More than half of US states have enacted legislation restricting transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports, and the Supreme Court's decision is likely to make those laws more difficult to challenge in federal court.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador welcomed the decision, calling it "a victory for common sense" and for "the countless women and girls who dedicate their lives to sports."
The Court's three liberal justices—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented, arguing that the ruling undermines protections for transgender Americans.
The legal challenge pitted the conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which defended the state laws, against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented the transgender athletes.
US Education Secretary Linda McMahon also praised the ruling, saying the administration has worked since its first day in office to protect women's and girls' sports from what she described as a "radical transgender agenda."
Despite the ruling, policies governing transgender participation in sports remain divided across the United States. While many Republican-led states have enacted restrictions, states including California and New York continue to allow transgender athletes to compete according to gender identity, with some providing explicit legal protections.