Supreme Court rules states may exclude transgender athletes; Kavanaugh majority limits constitutional protections

On June 30, 2026, the Supreme Court decided West Virginia v. BPJ, a case about whether states may bar transgender girls and women from participating on female sports teams. The ruling was split: all nine justices agreed Title IX does not require states to include transgender athletes in women's sports. However, only six justices—Kavanaugh, Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett—joined Kavanaugh's opinion holding that the Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit such bans under intermediate scrutiny; Kavanaugh’s opinion explicitly declined to decide whether rational basis or intermediate scrutiny applies generally to transgender classifications. Justices Thomas and Gorsuch wrote separate concurring opinions, each emphasizing different grounds. The immediate harm is to transgender youth who now face mandatory exclusion from teams that align with their gender identity—a policy with no educational benefit and documented mental health consequences. The ruling removes the federal constitutional floor, inviting red states to expand exclusions. However, it does not mandate any ban, and the decision does not affect Title IX's general protections against sex discrimination in education. The NCAA's policy change—restricting women's sports to athletes assigned female at birth—was adopted on February 6, 2025, months before this ruling, so it was not a direct response to the Court's decision. The practical effect of the ruling is to legitimize state-level exclusion, but it leaves the door open for future challenges if states apply their bans in discriminatory ways or if Congress chooses to clarify Title IX's scope.