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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Supreme Court justices for appearing to challenge biological differences between men and women during Tuesday’s hearing on saving women’s sports.
The Supreme Court heard two cases involving transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson pressured state attorneys general to keep girls’ sports biologically female.
Asked by Riley Gaines during Thursday’s briefing whether the administration is willing to crack down on states that don’t comply with the Supreme Court’s potential ruling to save women’s sports, Leavitt replied, “Absolutely.”
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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House January 15, 2026 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“The administration… [has] taken action on a number of fronts against these states that fail to uphold the president’s executive orders and this administration’s policy of simply protecting women and women’s sports and women’s private spaces. We have also gone to the mat with major universities in this country to try to fight for what is right and what is just for women in this country.
“I think the president is talking common sense on this issue, that women’s sports and private spaces need to be protected, and that there are two sexes, there are two sexes — that’s not something we should be afraid to say in this country.”
A protester holds a sign outside the Supreme Court during arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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Leavitt then slammed the aforementioned judges for what appeared to be at least a devil’s advocate game during the hearings.
“And I think, frankly, it was pretty alarming not only to hear a couple of justices fighting over the basic basic biological fact that men and women are different but inherently equal, but we are certainly different and women deserve those rights,” Leavitt added. “We hope and expect that the Supreme Court will rule in the right way in this case.”
The consensus among experts is that the Supreme Court justices and their conservative majority appear likely to allow Idaho, West Virginia and other states across the United States to uphold their laws to keep biological males out of women’s and girls’ sports.
Protesters gather outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments on state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
President Donald Trump issued an executive order to save women’s sports in February. According to the Supreme Court, 30 states have restrictions on transgender athletes competing against girls and women.
A decision is expected this summer.
