by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News June 30, 2026
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that states can ban males who claim they are female from competing in girls sports.
The Court ruled 6-3 that maintaining separate men’s and women’s sports is permitted under Title IX. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion.
“BIG WIN: The United States Supreme Court just RULED AGAINST MEN PLAYING IN WOMEN’S SPORTS. Wow! That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!!!” President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social.
The court ruled against trans identifying individuals—one now in high school, the other finishing college.
“The Constitution does not require that schools determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports based on gender identity rather than biological sex,” Kavanaugh wrote.
Twenty-seven states limit school sports for women and girls to athletes whose biological sex is female. In the remaining states, males who say they are female are allowed to compete on girls teams.
While the court’s decision effectively upholds the state bans, it doesn’t require other states to impose such restrictions.
At the Supreme Court, the Trump Administration supported state bans in Idaho and West Virginia. Those states and the administration argued that allowing transgender girls and women into female sports programs jeopardizes safety and equal opportunities for athletes whose biological sex is female.
West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey said Tuesday’s decision was “common sense policy,” adding, “The benefits of playing competitive sports on a field you know is fair and safe is astronomical.”
The two males who say they are girls whose cases were before the Supreme Court were Becky Pepper-Jackson of West Virginia and Lindsay Hecox of Idaho.
Pepper-Jackson filed his lawsuit in 2021, when he was 11, because he wanted to join the middle school girls’ track and cross-country teams but West Virginia law didn’t allow him to do so. Lower courts ruled in his favor, allowing him to compete on girls’ teams while the state appealed. Now in high school, he recently won a state championship in the girls shot put event and placed fourth in the discus event.
Pepper-Jackson took first place for Bridgeport High School in the Class AAA state track & field meet with a personal best of 38 feet, 11.75 inches. The top female finisher in the girls shot put was Paislee Babiczuk of John Marshall at 36 feet 11 inches.
Pepper-Jackson’s shot put distance would not have placed in the top 16 in the boys Class AAA finals. The boys winner, James McMillion of Robert C. Byrd High School, recorded a throw of 52 feet 11 inches.
Hecox, a student at Boise State University, filed his case in 2020 because he wanted to try out for the NCAA women’s track and cross-country teams. Lower courts ruled in his favor but he ultimately didn’t make the teams.
Hecox instead competed in club sports at Boise State, but eventually stopped playing sports so he could focus on schoolwork.
Joshua Block, a senior counsel at the ACLU, said the decision was “a heartbreaking ruling for our clients and transgender girls like them who’ve asked for nothing more than the same opportunities afforded to their peers.”
Trump has signed an executive order that seals off any wiggle-room for males to play in female sports across much of organized sports in the U.S., extending as far as adult recreational competitions.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) moved quickly in response to Trump’s order to implement new rules limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes whose sex was recorded as female at birth.
