US Supreme Court to review state bans on transgender athletes in female sports

The US Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will take up a pair of high-profile cases challenging state laws in Idaho and West Virginia that ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports.

The court’s decision to review the cases follows years of legal battles and comes just two weeks after the conservative-leaning bench upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender transitioning care for minors.

Barbara Ehardt, the Idaho lawmaker who authored the bill, previously said the measure was intended to ensure “boys and men will not be able to take the place of girls and women in sports because it's not fair.”

West Virginia’s Attorney General John McCuskey also praised the high court’s decision to intervene. “The people of West Virginia know that it’s unfair to let male athletes compete against women; that’s why we passed this common-sense law preserving women’s sports for women,” he said.

More than 20 states have passed similar restrictions in recent years, creating a patchwork of policies across the country. The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision could either reinforce these state-level bans or strike them down as unconstitutional, setting a powerful precedent for future challenges.

Adding further weight to the case, President Donald Trump earlier this year signed an executive order seeking to ban transgender girls and women from participating on female sports teams nationwide, a move that further escalated tensions over the issue at the federal level.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments during its next term, which begins in October, though an exact date for oral arguments has not yet been scheduled. The ruling, expected sometime in 2026, is likely to shape the future of transgender participation in sports for years to come.