The Supreme Court upheld a pair of state laws Tuesday barring biological men from participating in women’s sports, in a key ruling set to have wide ramifications for transgender issues across the country.
The high court issued a 6-3 ruling in both cases over state laws barring biological men from women’s sports, finding the state laws did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and were therefore constitutional. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion finding that under Title IX schools may separate sports by biological sex.
“The question before the Court is: Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, may schools maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females? In other words, may schools determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on biological sex? The answer is yes,” Kavanaugh wrote.
The Supreme Court heard two cases this term over a pair of similar laws barring biological men from women’s sports. In Little v. Hecox, Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act was at the center of the dispute, which was over whether the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In West Virginia v. B.P.J., West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act was at the center of the case, and the justices had to decide whether the state law violates either the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX.
The high court held arguments in both cases back-to-back in January, with a majority of the bench appearing deeply skeptical of efforts by transgender athletes and activists to strike down the laws, which the states argued protect women’s sports by ensuring women and girls can compete fairly. Among the questions asked, the justices grilled lawyers about the competitive advantage that biological men have over biological women, and whether cross-sex hormones could ever suppress that advantage.
THE MAJOR SUPREME COURT DECISIONS REMAINING FOR THIS TERM
The pair of cases was among the most closely watched issues of this Supreme Court term, coming one year after the high court upheld state laws barring transgender drugs and surgeries for children in United States v. Skrmetti.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.