States can block transgender athletes from playing on teams that match their gender identity, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision on Tuesday.
The closely watched decision upheld state laws in West Virginia and Idaho that prohibit trans girls and young women from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams at publicly funded schools. The justices ruled they must play on teams that match their gender assigned at birth.
The justices ruled that such bans do not violate students’ constitutional rights or Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans sex discrimination in educational settings.
The ruling should not affect states like Illinois that allow trans students to play on teams that match their gender identity.
But it means similar bans in 25 other states — including nearby Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa — are likely to withstand any future challenges. And while the number of trans student athletes affected by these bans is small, the decision adds fuel to the Trump administration’s ongoing attempts to prevent trans women from playing women’s sports, and to more broadly restrict the rights of trans people across the country.
Since President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February 2025 aimed at preventing trans athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, his administration has launched investigations into numerous school districts and state sports associations, pressuring them to stop allowing trans athletes to play on teams that match their gender identity by threatening to withhold federal funding.
The administration is currently investigating three dozen Illinois school districts, including a Chicago charter school operator, over how they handle trans student athlete participation and how they teach about gender identity.
The ruling stemmed from two separate cases that reached the Supreme Court. In West Virginia v. B.P.J., a trans girl named Becky Pepper-Jackson challenged her state’s ban on trans girls playing girls’ sports in public high schools and colleges.
Becky Pepper-Jackson (right) sat outside the Supreme Court with her mom, Heather Jackson, in January 2026. The West Virginia teen challenged a state law that prohibits trans girls from playing on women’s sports teams at public high schools and colleges. She is the only openly transgender student athlete in her state.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
She alleged the law violated Title IX and her 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. With the state law on hold, she’s been allowed to compete in girls’ sports and has become a track and field standout in shot put and discus.
In Little v. Hecox, a trans student at Boise State University named Lindsay Hecox challenged Idaho’s law that barred trans athletes from playing on girls’ and women’s teams at public colleges and K-12 schools for similar reasons.
Hecox eventually stopped playing sports in Idaho and asked the court to drop her claim, citing personal struggles and negative attention from the case that she worried would derail her from graduating.
In the wake of Trump’s executive order, the Illinois High School Association said it would follow state law, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, and continue to allow trans athletes to play on sports teams that match their gender identity on a case-by-case basis in the series of competitions that lead to state championships.
The association, which oversees high school athletics in Illinois, estimates there are 25 trans athletes out of 133,000 statewide; about three or four are trans girls.