US Supreme Court Rules States Can Ban Trans Athletes From School Sports

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states may ban transgender girls from participating in sports at publicly funded schools – based on the lawsuit West Virginia v. B.P.J.  

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion in support of the bans: 

“In the sports context, starting down the road of judicially managed individualized exemptions based on physical capabilities of individual athletes could fundamentally undermine women’s and girls’ sports — especially if the number of biological males who seek to play women’s and girls’ sports increases significantly over time. The questions would be endless (and bitter) and yield few, if any, principled answers. The Equal Protection Clause and this Court’s precedents do not require such a judicial quagmire.” 

How We Got Here 

In 2021, the West Virginia Legislature passed House Bill 3293, also known as the “Save Women In Sports Act.” The bill stipulated participation for sports events to be based on biological sex of the athlete at birth and allows “any student aggrieved by a violation” to bring an action against a county board of education or state institution of higher education for injunctive relief and damages. 

However, before the bill became law, the mother of a then-11-year-old transgender girl who wanted to join her middle school’s girls’ cross-country team filed a federal lawsuit against the state Board of Education and the Harrison County Board of Education. She was supported in West Virginia v. B.P.J. by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU West Virginia, and Cooley LLP.  

The suit challenged the state’s 2021 law (H.B. 3293), arguing it violated both Title IX’s protections against sex discrimination and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. According to a statement from West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, the court ruled 9-0 on the Title IX issue and 6-3 on the Equal Protection issue.  

The now 15-year-old student – referred to in filings as B.P.J. – has publicly identified as female since the third grade, takes medicine to stave off the onset of male puberty and has also begun to receive hormone therapy with estrogen.  

B.P.J. won the West Virginia Class AAA girls shot put championship recently with a personal best throw of 38 feet, 11.75 inches, according to results reported by the Charleston Gazette-Mail. 

The U.S. Department of Justice intervened, filing a statement of interest in the lawsuit that argued the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal funds. 

In January 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin ruled that West Virginia’s ban on transgender athletes competing in female school sports was constitutional and could remain in place. But a month later, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, issued a preliminary injunction that B.P.J. could continue practicing with her team while they deliberated. The Fourth Circuit ultimately ruled in April 2024 that the 2021 law violated Title IX.  

Then-West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey filed an emergency appeal in 2023 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to enforce the law while the Fourth Circuit considered the case.  

At least two justices have already publicly sided with West Virginia while dissenting from the earlier emergency appeal. Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, that a federal appeals court should not have blocked a state law. 

“I would grant the State’s application,” Alito wrote. “…in the circumstances present here—where a divided panel of a lower court has enjoined a duly enacted state law on an important subject without a word of explanation, notwithstanding that the District Court granted summary judgment to the State based on a fact-intensive record—the State is entitled to relief. If we put aside the issue of the State’s delay in seeking emergency relief and if the District Court’s analysis of the merits of this case is correct, the generally applicable stay factors plainly justify granting West Virginia’s application.”   

The justices agreed to hear the case on appeal in January 2026. 

West Virginia v. B.P.J. was argued concurrently with Little v. Hecox, which stemmed from Idaho’s first-in-the-nation Fairness in Women’s Sports Act passed in 2020. 

At the heart of Tuesday’s case is Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that bars sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal money. Enacted in 1972, the law has revolutionized women’s sports by requiring equal treatment for male and female athletes, including proportional scholarship funding and equal facilities. 
But in recent years, 27 states have barred trans women and girls from participating in girls’ sports. The issue has become the newest flashpoint in both politics and law — especially after 2024 when the Trump presidential campaign aired attack ads on the subject more than 15,000 times, putting Democrats on the defensive. 

On the day of his inauguration in 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14168, titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” which prohibits the federal government from recognizing the gender identity of transgender people. It was followed up two weeks later by Executive Order 14201, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” an attempt to ban transgender women athletes of all ages from competing on girls and women’s sports teams on the basis of the “male” and “female” definitions from the first order.

Reactions 

Gov. Patrick Morrisey released the following statement:  

“Today’s decision will be remembered as one of the most important victories for women’s athletics since the enactment of Title IX itself. 

“This began in West Virginia, but its impact reaches every corner of the country. Future generations of female athletes will benefit from the certainty, fairness, and opportunity this decision protects.  

“West Virginia stood its ground. We defended a simple principle most Americans instinctively understand: that women’s sports exist to provide women and girls a fair opportunity to compete and succeed. Today, I am grateful to my team, who worked tirelessly on this issue for years, and to our current Attorney General, who saw this case through.” 

Attorneys for B.P.J. released the following statements:  

“This is a heartbreaking ruling for our clients and transgender girls like them who’ve asked for nothing more than the same opportunities afforded to their peers.” Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, said. “The reality is that the equality of transgender women and girls takes nothing away from, and in fact promotes, the equality of all women and girls. We will continue to advance the fundamental principle that all young people deserve equal opportunity to thrive and succeed.” 

“This ruling is deeply harmful for transgender women and girls who only asked for the ability to participate in sports with their peers,” Sasha Buchert, senior attorney and director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project, Lambda Legal, said. “Countless studies have demonstrated the myriad benefits that come with participation in team sports. Now, one population, transgender youth and collegians, are targeted for specific and baseless discrimination. We will not be deterred and will continue to fight back to secure the equal participation that all youth, including transgender youth, deserve.”  

“It is profoundly unfair to deny a young person the benefits of teamwork and dedication because of who they are,” Kelly O’Neill, Legal Voice’s Idaho attorney, said. “We should be removing barriers for girls and women in sports, not creating new ones.” 

McCuskey’s Solicitor General division, led by Michael Williams, argued the case before the high court in January 2026.  

In a statement, McCuskey said: 

 
“The Supreme Court’s decision upholds West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act as both constitutional and lawful under Title IX. The decision overturns a ruling from the Fourth Circuit of Appeals that wrongly concluded that a biological male could participate in girls’ sports in West Virginia, stripping the State of its authority to assign athletic teams based on sex to ensure opportunities for biological females.  
 
“This is a monumental victory for every female athlete who has ever competed, or dreamed of competing, on a fair and safe playing field. Today’s Supreme Court decision affirms what common sense and the law have long made clear: states have the right to designate sports teams based on biological sex, not gender identity. Without that delineation, Title IX is turned on its head, and decades of hard-fought progress to advance female athletes are erased. I am immensely proud of my team for not only getting this issue before the Court but also for delivering sound and successful arguments. This landmark victory will give all states, not just West Virginia, the clarity and confidence to ensure fairness and safety for female athletes today and for generations to come.  
 
“With today’s ruling, West Virginia can fully enforce the Save Women’s Sports Act, which was passed and signed into law in 2021. The law recognizes the inherent physical differences between females and males by restricting boys from playing on girls’ sports teams involving competitive skill or contact. Male athletes who identify as female may still — like all other biological boys — compete on boys’ or co-ed teams. West Virginia, led by Solicitor General Michael Williams, successfully argued the Sports Act upholds the principles of Title IX and that it does not violate the Equal Protection Clause.”