A U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding West Virginia’s law restricting transgender girls from competing on girls’ school sports teams has reshaped the national debate over athletics, civil rights and state authority, drawing praise from Republican leaders while prompting sharp criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates and the attorneys who represented the student at the center of the case.

In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that federal civil rights law and the Constitution allow states to maintain separate athletic teams based on biological sex and to prohibit transgender girls and women from competing on female school teams. The ruling reversed lower court decisions that had blocked enforcement of West Virginia’s 2021 Save Women’s Sports Act and a similar Idaho law.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, said states have legitimate interests in maintaining separate athletic teams based on biological sex because of physical differences between males and females that affect athletic competition.

The consolidated cases, West Virginia et al. v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, challenged laws in West Virginia and Idaho restricting participation in girls’ and women’s school sports.

The West Virginia case centered on Becky Pepper-Jackson, a Bridgeport student-athlete who challenged the state’s Save Women’s Sports Act after seeking to compete on her middle school’s girls track and field team. Her attorneys argued she received puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy before experiencing male puberty and therefore did not possess an athletic advantage over cisgender female athletes.

The Idaho case involved Boise State University student Lindsay Hecox, who challenged that state’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act after being barred from women’s track and cross-country tryouts.

The decision returns both cases to lower courts for additional proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court’s opinion, but allows states to continue enforcing laws based on biological sex.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who served as attorney general when the state defended the law before the Supreme Court, called the decision one of the most significant victories for women’s athletics since the passage of Title IX.

“Today’s decision will be remembered as one of the most important victories for women’s athletics since the enactment of Title IX itself,” Morrisey said. “The protections established under Title IX remain meaningful, the integrity of women’s sports remains worth preserving, and states retain the authority to defend fair competition.”

Attorney General JB McCuskey said the ruling reaches well beyond West Virginia, arguing it establishes a legal framework that Congress could use to enact similar protections nationwide.

“The Supreme Court is showing a pathway forward for this to be the law of the land,” McCuskey said during a news conference following the ruling. “That’s going to require some real courage from our congressional leaders.”

McCuskey said the court unanimously agreed that Title IX does not prohibit states from maintaining separate athletic teams based on biological sex, describing that portion of the decision as especially significant.

“The most important part about the fact that it was 9-0 is that the justices all agree that we have to have delineations based on biological sex in order for the incredibly important reasons for Title IX to be effective,” he said.

He argued Congress intended Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination “on the basis of sex” to refer to biological sex and said the ruling provides clarity for states seeking to preserve separate athletic opportunities for girls and women.

McCuskey also said he believes all children should have opportunities to participate in athletics but distinguished between recreational sports and competitive competition.

“I don’t want to deny any child the opportunity to play sports,” he said. “But I also don’t want to make any playing field unfair to somebody who’s trying to compete.”

Republican members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation also praised the decision.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports undermines the protections Title IX was designed to provide, while Sen. Jim Justice, who signed the Save Women’s Sports Act into law as governor in 2021, called the ruling “a big win for female athletes all across this country.”

Attorneys representing Pepper-Jackson said they were deeply disappointed by the decision and argued the court failed to fully consider the facts specific to her case.

“Today was obviously a disappointing result for Becky and for other transgender girls around the country,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Becky was ready for it. She’s not a quitter, and that’s one of the lessons she learned from participating in sports.”

Sasha Buchert, director of Lambda Legal’s Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project, said the majority declined to consider evidence developed in the lower court.

“I also want to express my disappointment that the majority obstinately refused to consider the district court’s own unresolved factual record here, which would have shown that Becky Pepper-Jackson does not pose any competitive advantage or that there are safety issues,” Buchert said.

Aubrey Sparks, legal director for ACLU West Virginia, said the case became intensely personal because it focused on a single student.

“This wasn’t about a group of 30 kids,” Sparks said. “It was about one kid with a name who participated in sports.”

Sparks argued Pepper-Jackson’s medical history challenged many assumptions underlying the national debate because she did not undergo male puberty.

“In Becky’s case, where she didn’t have any physiological advantage because she never underwent male puberty, I think that flips a lot of those assumptions on its head,” Sparks said.

Advocates also noted the ruling comes as more than two dozen states have enacted laws restricting transgender participation in girls’ and women’s sports.

Buchert said the decision allows states to adopt such laws but does not require them to do so.

“This really says that a state may discriminate, not that they must discriminate,” she said. “States, schools and athletic associations should be taking every step to ensure that athletic opportunities exist for transgender girls.”

Following the ruling, the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission said it is reviewing the decision and will await guidance from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia before implementing any policy changes.

“The WVSSAC will be looking for the District Court’s guidance as to implementing the Supreme Court’s directives for the State of West Virginia and, accordingly, the WVSSAC,” the organization said in a statement.

The Harrison County Board of Education also acknowledged the ruling. Superintendent Dora Stutler said the district respects the Supreme Court’s decision and “will continue to support all of its students in accordance with that decision.”

While the ruling resolves one of the nation’s most closely watched legal challenges over transgender participation in school athletics, both supporters and opponents said it is unlikely to end the broader national debate over fairness, inclusion and the future of girls’ and women’s sports.