Supreme Court Allows States to Bar Transgender Athletes From Girls' Sports [View all]
The courts decision involving laws from West Virginia and Idaho has implications for 25 other states with similar restrictions. President Trump hailed the ruling as a major victory.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/06/30/us/supreme-court-trans-athletes
https://archive.ph/Dk0qQ
The ruling on laws from West Virginia and Idaho has implications for 25 other states with similar restrictions.
A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld two state laws barring the participation of transgender female athletes from girls and womens sports teams. The courts 6-to-3 ruling deals with laws from West Virginia and Idaho but has implications for the 25 other states with similar restrictions, and for athletes who compete in school and collegiate sports nationwide. The Trump administration, which backed the state bans, has targeted the participation of transgender athletes in sports amid a national rollback of rights for transgender people.
President Trump directed federal agencies last year to withdraw funding from schools that allow transgender athletes in girls and womens sports. The cases attracted intense public interest, with Olympians and other elite athletes watching closely and submitting legal briefs in support of each side. In March, the International Olympic Committee barred transgender athletes from competing in the womens category of the Olympics and said that all participants in those events must undergo genetic testing. The N.C.A.A. announced last year that it would bar trans women from competing in womens sports.
At the Supreme Court, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a high school student from West Virginia, and Lindsay Hecox, a college student in Idaho, challenged their respective states laws, which both required that participation on sports teams for girls be based on biological sex, defined as a persons birth sex. Tuesdays ruling divided the court along ideological lines, with the conservative majority allowing states to determine eligibility for womens and girls sports based on biological sex.
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National polls indicate that support for requiring trans athletes to compete on teams that match their birth sex has grown in recent years. A
Pew Research survey published early last year found that support for such policies had increased to 66 percent, up eight percentage points since 2022.
A Gallup poll last June also found support in two-thirds of adults, including four in 10 Democrats.
A New York Times/Ipsos poll conducted last year put support higher: nearly 80 percent of Americans, including two-thirds of Democrats, opposed allowing transgender women to compete in womens sports.