The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld state laws requiring athletes to participate on sports teams according to their biological sex, arguing that these laws violate neither the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause nor Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
In its opinion, The Court holds that neither Title IX nor the Equal Protection Clause require West Virginia or Idaho to allow men who identify as women to participate in women’s athletics, a ruling which signals legal approval to the other state that have already enacted similar laws.
The text of the opinion, however, appears to lay the groundwork for legal challenges against states that allow male participation in female sports.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the Court, sites a 1975 regulation from the Department of Health, Education, and Wellness, which “required that schools provide ‘equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes.’”
These regulations were promulgated by directive of the 1974 Javits Amendment, which applied the principle behind Title IX to the area of school athletics, and they remain in effect today, according to the opinion.
Additionally, Kavanaugh cites comments by Justice John Paul Stevens regarding a 1980 Supreme Court case:
“Without a gender-based classification in competitive contact sports, there would be a substantial risk that boys would dominate the girls’ programs and deny them an equal opportunity to compete in interscholastic events.”
Given that Title IX protects students from being denied the benefits of any educational activity on the basis of sex, Justice Kavanaugh implies that any school athletic organization that allows boys to play in girls’ sports may be in violation of the regulation.
Currently, cases which allege just that are making their way through the federal judicial system, including lawsuits filed by the Trump Administration against states which allow men to compete in women’s sports.
In April of last year, the Trump Administration sued the Maine Department of Education, alleging that its “policies and actions are harming girls by denying girls the opportunity to compete in student sports on a level playing field in which they have the same opportunities as boys.”
Last July, the Administration sued the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation, the organization that runs California’s high school athletics, alleging the same.
This past March, the Trump Administration also filed suit against Minnesota on similar grounds.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dillon praised the Supreme Court decision on X.com, suggesting the Justice Department will remain diligent in its efforts to protect women’s sports:
“Thanks to the SCOTUS ruling, we have new tools in @TheJusticeDept cases in MN & CA re boys in girls’ sports.
“It is ILLEGAL to force girls to compete against boys and we @CivilRights are on it!”
