Supreme Court Upholds State Bans on Trans Athletes in Girls’ and Women’s Sports

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states can bar transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams. The decision upholds laws in West Virginia and Idaho that had kept two runners, one in college and one in middle school, off their schools’ rosters.

The 6-3 ruling combines two cases, Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J. Both were brought by transgender athletes who sued after being blocked from competing.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion. “Separate sports teams for biological males and biological females are reasonable,” he wrote. “Given the inherent physical differences between the sexes, allowing only biological females to play on women’s and girls’ teams can reduce the risk of physical injury and ensure fair competition.”

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett joined him. The New York Times first reported the decision Tuesday morning.

The numbers behind the debate

The population at the center of this fight is small.

Charlie Baker, president of the NCAA, told Congress in 2024 that he was aware of only about 10 transgender athletes across more than 500,000 students on NCAA teams.

The politics have moved faster than the athlete count. Trump made the issue a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign with an ad that said, “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.” In February 2025 he signed an executive order aimed at keeping trans women out of women’s sports. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee followed with their own bans. The International Olympic Committee announced a similar policy in March.

The science is mixed. A 2025 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that transgender female athletes who had undergone gender-affirming hormone therapy showed strength levels comparable to cisgender female athletes. Separately, World Athletics has banned trans women from elite female competition since 2023, and now requires SRY gene testing for female athletes at its championships.

What the justices split on

All nine justices agreed the state laws do not violate Title IX. The three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined the majority on that point.

They broke with the conservatives on the constitutional question. The majority found that the laws survive equal protection review because safety and competitive fairness are strong enough justifications. The dissenting justices argued the laws are too broad, since they ban trans girls like Pepper-Jackson who never experienced male puberty.

What the ruling does not cover

The opinion is narrow. Kavanaugh emphasized that the court was ruling on sports, not on transgender rights more broadly.

The justices did not decide whether states can restrict bathroom access for transgender students. Twenty-one states already have such restrictions. The court also did not settle whether transgender people qualify as a group entitled to heightened constitutional protection, a question likely to return in future cases.

The practical effect

In at least 27 states, transgender girls and women now cannot compete on female school sports teams at the middle school, high school, or college level. That includes cross country, track, and field events.

The ruling does not directly affect community events, though the fight is playing out there too. Parkrun is facing legal action in the U.K. over its trans-inclusive registration policy, and non-binary athletes like Nikki Hiltz continue to compete under existing rules in events not covered by the new bans.

For Hecox, varsity college running is off the table. For Pepper-Jackson, her spring shot put title may be the last time she competes on a school team.