Under those state restrictions, a transgender woman – a biological male who identifies as a woman – is not allowed to compete in women’s sports in schools and colleges.
All nine justices of the court decided that the state’s restrictions did not violate a civil rights law called Title IX that prohibits gender-based discrimination in schools.
But the justices were divided along ideological lines on whether the ban violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under law.
Six conservative justices said it did not violate the Constitution but three liberal justices disagreed.
“The Constitution and Title IX do not require sweeping changes to women’s and girls’ sports across America,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who ruled.
In her partial dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority opinion applied “a diminished approach of equal protection” to sports.
The challenge launched in Idaho came from Lindsay Hecox, a transgender woman who is a long-distance runner, who filed it shortly after the law was enacted. Both the district court and the appeal court later granted her an injunction.
Barbara Ehardt, the state legislator who introduced the legislation, said at the time of its passage that it would ensure that “boys and men would be excluded from taking the place of girls and women in sports because that is unfair.”
But in an appeals decision, a panel of three judges found that the Idaho law violated constitutional rights. She said the state had failed to provide evidence that its ban protects “gender equality and opportunities for female athletes”.
West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said the ruling is a victory for common sense and will give all states “the clarity and confidence to ensure fairness and protection for female athletes today and for generations to come”.
But the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which advocates for the LGBT community, has criticised the decision.
“This decision is heartbreaking for transgender student athletes who are being forced to sit on the sidelines simply because they are who they are,” said HRC President Kelly Robinson.
President Donald Trump, who celebrated the decision and called it a “giant victory” in social media posts, made the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports a regular focus of his 2024 re-election campaign. Last year, he signed an executive order aimed at banning transgender women from competing on female sports teams in schools and colleges.
Following that decision, the NCAA, the governing body for American college sports, banned transgender women from competing in women’s sports.
Supporters of the ban argued that transgender women had a biological advantage over athletes who were registered female at birth.
When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced in March that it was going to limit the women’s category in the Olympic Games to biological females, it said that its working group had reviewed the latest scientific evidence over the past 18 months and concluded that there was “clear consensus” externally that “the male sex provides a performance advantage in all sports and events that depend on strength, power and endurance”.
Those opposing the restrictions argue that they unfairly discriminate against transgender students and dispute whether there is any scientific consensus that transgender women and girls have an inherent benefit.
