Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender athletes from women's and girls' sports teams

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 30, 2026, to uphold state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that ban transgender girls and women from competing on female sports teams. Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated that schools may determine athletic eligibility based on biological sex under Title IX and the Constitution. The decision, celebrated as a major victory by President Donald Trump, is expected to affect similar laws in 25 other states, while drawing sharp condemnation from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.

Supreme Court transgender sports ruling

• ▪Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett
• ▪Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch filed concurring opinions, while Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented
• ▪The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 30, 2026, that states may ban transgender student-athletes from competing on female sports teams
• ▪The Supreme Court ruled that state bans on transgender female athletes do not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment or Title IX

West Virginia Idaho bans

• ▪Becky Pepper-Jackson, a transgender high school sophomore, challenged the West Virginia law after competing in shot put and discus
• ▪Idaho enacted its transgender athlete ban in 2020, and West Virginia enacted its ban in 2021
• ▪Lindsay Hecox, a transgender college student, challenged the Idaho ban but later sought to dismiss the case after quitting varsity sports
• ▪The Supreme Court ruling overturned lower court decisions that had sided with transgender students challenging athletic bans in West Virginia and Idaho

Trump transgender policy agenda

• ▪The Trump administration has restricted passport gender markers, limited gender-affirming treatments for minors, and cracked down on gender-neutral pronouns
• ▪The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports following an executive order signed by Donald Trump
• ▪President Donald Trump celebrated the Supreme Court ruling as a victory, having made bans on transgender people a central theme of his campaign

Civil rights group reactions

• ▪Sasha Buchert of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project called the ruling deeply harmful for transgender women and girls
• ▪The Trevor Project CEO Jaymes Black stated that the rulings serve only to send a message to transgender and nonbinary youth that they do not belong

Public opinion transgender athletes

• ▪An October 2025 AP-NORC poll found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults favored requiring transgender youth to compete on teams matching their sex assigned at birth
• ▪A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that 66 percent of respondents supported requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams aligned with their sex assigned at birth