Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender girls and women from school sports

By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-upholds-state-laws-banning-transgender-girls-and-women-from-school-sports Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Supreme Court upholds state laws banning transgender girls and women from school sports Politics Updated on Jun 30, 2026 10:08 AM EDT — Published on Jun 30, 2026 10:06 AM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, in another setback for transgender people. The court's conservative majority, which has repeatedly ruled against transgender Americans in the past year, ruled that state bans in Idaho and West Virginia don't violate the Constitution or the federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education. WATCH: A look at the legal and political fight over trans athletes as cases reach Supreme Court More than two dozen other Republican-led states have adopted bans on female transgender athletes, and the decision seems certain to extend to them as well. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Left unresolved by the outcome are lawsuits challenging state laws and regulations in Connecticut, California and elsewhere that permit transgender athletes to compete consistent with their gender identity. Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 16-year-old high school sophomore in Bridgeport, West Virginia, has been taking puberty-blocking medication, has publicly identified as a girl since age 8 and has been issued a West Virginia birth certificate recognizing her as female. She is the only transgender person who has sought to compete in girls sports in West Virginia. LISTEN: Supreme Court seems likely to uphold states' bans on transgender students playing school sports Pepper-Jackson has progressed from a back-of-the-pack cross-country runner in middle school to statewide champion in the shot put. She beat the second-place finisher by two feet in last month's West Virginia championship meet. In the Idaho case, Lindsay Hecox sued over the state's first-in-the-nation ban for the chance to try out for the women's track and cross-country teams at Boise State University in Idaho. She didn't make either squad because "she was too slow," her lawyer, Kathleen Hartnett, told the court during arguments in January, but she competed in club-level soccer and running. Prominent women in sports have weighed in on both sides. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova, swimmers Summer Sanders and Donna de Varona and beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings are supporting the state bans. Soccer stars Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn and basketball players Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart back the transgender athletes. In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled LGBTQ people are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law th