{"id":789,"date":"2026-06-30T14:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=789"},"modified":"2026-06-30T14:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:40:13","slug":"supreme-court-upholds-state-laws-restricting-trans-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=789","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Upholds State Laws Restricting Trans Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that state laws banning transgender athletes from participating in women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports are constitutional.<\/p>\n

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The justices decided these anti-trans laws do not violate Title IX, a civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination. They also ruled that these laws do not go against the Constitution\u2019s equal protection clause.<\/p>\n

States that have banned trans athletes from female sports, Justice Brett Kavanaugh for the majority, \u201chave concluded at this time that women and girls should be allowed to compete for those life-changing opportunities on an equal playing field, without fear of physical injury from biological males or being forced to compete against biological males.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hold that the States may maintain women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports for biological females. They may determine eligibility for women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports based on biological sex,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The two cases at hand \u2014 and \u2014 asked the justices to determine whether two laws in Idaho and West Virginia prohibiting trans athletes from participating in female sports in public schools and in college violated the equal rights protection clause of the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the justices decided the laws do not violate the Constitution, effectively upholding laws in 27 states<\/u><\/span> that have similar statutes in place.<\/p>\n

The justices delivered one joint opinion for both cases. Kavanaugh wrote the opinion of the court, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.<\/p>\n

The liberal justices \u2014 Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson \u2014 agreed with the other six justices when it comes to the Title IX determination, but ultimately said in their dissent that the majority\u2019s determination that the equal protection clause does not protect trans athletes \u201cgets the answer wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo provide equal opportunity for female athletes, schools do not merely maintain, for example, one soccer team, one basketball team, one ice hockey team, and one lacrosse team that are equally open to female and male athletes,\u201d Kavanaugh wrote. \u201cThat approach would deny equal opportunity to female athletes because, as all agree, females and males have inherent physical differences relevant to athletic performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question before the Court is: Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the<\/p>\n

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Fourteenth Amendment, may schools maintain women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports for biological females? In other words, may schools determine eligibility for women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports based on biological sex? The answer is yes,\u201d Kavanaugh continued.<\/p>\n

Both West Virginia\u2019s law<\/u><\/span>, known as the Save Women\u2019s Sports Act, and Idaho\u2019s , known as the Fairness in Women\u2019s Sports Act, allow students to sue schools who allow trans athletes to join female sports teams.<\/p>\n

These two decisions come a year after the Supreme Court ruled<\/u><\/span> that laws banning gender-affirming care for trans minors is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis litigation implicates deeply sensitive, contentious, and evolving issues. These circumstances demand exercising judicial restraint, not rushing to answer conclusively difficult questions without sufficient evidentiary development,\u201d Sotomayor wrote in her dissent, which also concurred with part of the majority opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn opting otherwise, the majority extends great sympathy to those it favors: the young cisgender girls and women who play sports. I share that sympathy. Playing sports can lead to benefits that are immeasurable, and many are understandably invested in ensuring that competition stays fair and safe,\u201d Sotomayor continued.<\/p>\n

But, she added, that the majority \u201cinflicts a hardship on those it disfavors without giving them the fair and full opportunity the Constitution requires to litigate their contentions.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are two of several LGBTQ+ cases<\/u><\/span> the Supreme Court heard this term.<\/p>\n

In March, the Supreme Court<\/u><\/span> against Colorado\u2019s law banning licensed health professionals from providing conversion therapy, a practice that has been denounced by major medical organizations. The justices sent the case back down to lower courts that originally upheld the law, arguing that justices needed to reconsider the case and take into consideration whether such a law violates a provider\u2019s First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

The court, at the time, did not rule whether the law itself is constitutional, but it hinted that it likely will not be. Gorsuch wrote in the opinion that \u201cany law that suppresses speech based on viewpoint represents an \u2018egregious\u2019 assault\u201d on the First Amendment.<\/p>\n

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The justices upheld two state laws that ban trans athletes from participating in female sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts"],"yoast_head":"\nSupreme Court Upholds State Laws Restricting Trans Athletes - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=789\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supreme Court Upholds State Laws Restricting Trans Athletes - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The justices upheld two state laws that ban trans athletes from participating in female sports.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=789\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-30T14:40:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Supreme Court Upholds State Laws Restricting Trans Athletes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T14:40:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789\"},\"wordCount\":749,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a0ddf9e826c1fd495b5903375d892432-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Courts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789\",\"name\":\"Supreme Court Upholds State Laws Restricting Trans Athletes - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a0ddf9e826c1fd495b5903375d892432-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-30T14:40:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=789#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a0ddf9e826c1fd495b5903375d892432-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/a0ddf9e826c1fd495b5903375d892432-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"A transgender pride flag is displayed at a booth during Portland Pride on July 21, 2024, in Portland, Ore. 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