Supreme Court upholds state bans on transgender athletes

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, that states may prohibit transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams in public schools and colleges. The 6-3 decision upholds laws in West Virginia and Idaho and establishes a precedent likely to affect more than two dozen other states with similar statutes.

The court consolidated two cases for its ruling: West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox. 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. The majority held that the state laws do not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.

The court concluded that Title IX, enacted in 1972, permits schools to maintain separate sports teams for biological females and to determine eligibility based on biological sex. Kavanaugh wrote that the law's original meaning of "sex" referred to biological sex, particularly in the context of athletics. The opinion stated that protecting competitive fairness and safety...