US Supreme Court to Review State Bans on Transgender Athletes

Idaho and West Virginia seek to enforce their state laws banning participation of transgender athletes from female sports teams at public schools through an appeal to the US Supreme Court against the circuit court decisions finding the laws discriminatory.

Idaho’s law was blocked by a federal judge in 2020, holding that it likely violates the constitutional equal protection guarantee. The ruling was upheld by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Similarly, the Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law’s exclusion of the student from girls’ teams violated Title IX.

The suing students had cited that the laws discriminate based on sex in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law, as well as the Title IX civil rights statute that bars sex-based discrimination in education.

As of September 2025, at least 29 U.S. states have statewide bans restricting transgender girls and women from competing on girls’ and women’s teams.

In February this year, an executive order titled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports was issued by the Trump administration to effectively rescind federal funds from educational programs that allowed transgender individuals to participate in girls’ and women’s sports. However, court challenges and state-level conflicts create a contested compliance landscape.

Moreover, in July, the World Athletics Council undertook a consultation process. It approved new eligibility rules that took effect on 1 September 2025, mandating an SRY gene test requirement and merging the framework, replacing the prior Athletes with Differences of Sex Development (‘the DSD Regulations’) and the Eligibility Regulations for Transgender Athletes (‘the TG Regulations’).

Although the new rules protect competitive fairness by preventing androgen-driven male-type advantages in female events, they will likely reduce participation opportunities for transgender women and some DSD athletes at the elite level.

After the US Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law restricting gender‑affirming care for minors and sent several related rulings back to lower courts for further review, Republican‑backed policies affecting transgender people have remained a prominent point of contention in US politics, with supporters calling them “common‑sense” and opponents calling them discriminatory.