NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
The Supreme Court has established a new nationwide precedent allowing states to protect women’s sports.
The justices ruled Thursday in favor of West Virginia and Idaho against trans athletes who sued to gain access to girls’ sports. The states were backed by the law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), while the trans athletes were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Cooley Legal.
In the long-awaited West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox decisions, the high court upheld state laws that require student-athletes to compete on sports teams that match their biological sex at birth rather than their gender identity.
West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey praised the court’s decision in a statement to Pakinomist Digital.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
Female athletes speak outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC after justices heard arguments on January 13, 2026 regarding state bans on transgender athletes in women’s sports. (Oliver Contreras/AFP)
“This is a monumental victory for every female athlete who has ever competed, or dreamed of competing, on a fair and safe playing field. Today’s Supreme Court decision confirms what common sense and the law have long made clear: states have the right to designate sports teams based on biological sex, not gender identity. Without that delineation of its delineation, Title IX has turned hard progress on its head and the IX decade is erased,” McCuskey said.
“I am immensely proud of my team for not only getting this issue before the court, but for delivering sound and successful arguments. This landmark victory will give all states, not just West Virginia, the clarity and confidence to ensure fairness and safety for female athletes today and for generations to come.”
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador echoed McCuskey’s statement.
“Today’s decision is a victory for common sense, justice and the countless girls and women who dedicate themselves to athletics. Idaho led the nation in becoming the first state to protect women’s sports, and I have never wavered in defending that law,” Labrado said.
“The Supreme Court has now affirmed that states can preserve fair competition and protect the opportunities that generations of women fought to secure. All parents can be confident that our law protects their daughters who compete in Idaho.”
West Virginia’s “Save Women’s Sports Act” and Idaho’s “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” were at the center of the fierce legal battle.
Those state laws had been blocked in recent years after trans athletes in West Virginia and Idaho successfully sued to challenge them. After several years of not getting past the appeals court, the Supreme Court agreed to hear both cases last July. Now, after oral arguments in January, the laws are being protected.
The decisions mark a massive victory for “Save Women’s Sports” advocates and conservative lawmakers who have passed state legislation on the issue. The decision validates and protects the 27 other state laws passed in recent years to ban biological males from women’s sports.
The transgender plaintiffs were Lindsay Hecox, a transgender athlete who sought to run women’s track and cross country at Boise State University, and Becky Pepper-Jackson, a transgender youth athlete in West Virginia who sued the state while in middle school in 2021 before it recently won a girls track and field championship in May.
During oral arguments, lawyers for both trans athletes had moments of doubt.
Pepper-Jackson’s attorney, Joshua Block of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), suggested that “sex” should not be legally defined. Block then fled questioning when asked to elaborate on why after the hearing.
“I really urge the court not to do it on the definition of sex argument,” Block initially said at the hearing.
CONSERVATIVE JUSTICE SWIPES AT DOJ IN TRANS SPORTS CASES: ‘I DON’T THINK YOU’RE A PHD IN THIS STUFF’
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador and West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey stand outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, Jan. 13, 2026, as the court hears cases over whether states can bar transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams based on biological sex. (Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg)
But after grilling from Chief Justice John Roberts, who insisted that sex “must matter,” Block conceded that sex should be defined by biology for the sake of this case, but only this case.
“I think in this case you can accept, for the sake of this case, that we’re talking about what they’ve termed biological sex,” he said.
Pakinomist Digital asked Block what his definition of “sex” is, and he refused to provide a definition and then dodged further questions.
Meanwhile, Hecox’s attorney, Kathleen Hartnett of Cooley Legal, conceded that the Hecox athlete was “unlikely” to graduate in May after the firm previously argued that the athlete’s May graduation would make a ruling on Hecox’s athletic eligibility unnecessary.
“She is unlikely to graduate in May, as my friend said, but is hopeful that she can make it through summer credits in the fall,” Hartnett said just months after the firm filed a proposal for discussion, in which Hecox said, “I am currently enrolled in classes that may allow me to graduate as early as May 2026.”
Earlier in the hearing, Idaho Attorney General Alan Hurst called Hecox’s alleged May graduation date “not possible” after state leadership dug the back door to discover Hecox’s status.
AGS LEADING ‘SAVE WOMEN’S SPORTS’ LEGAL TEAM IN SCOTUS BATTLE REJECTS EXPECTATIONS FOR COURT’S DECISION
“[Boise State] is a client in Idaho, we asked, and the university confirmed that it’s unlikely to happen this spring,” Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) legal counsel John Bursch, who has worked with the Idaho and West Virginia AGs on the Supreme Court case, told Pakinomist Digital. “It just shows that Hecox has gone back and forth throughout the case.”
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador said the disclosure of the discrepancy was “important” to their arguments Tuesday.
“I think it’s important. I don’t think it’s the main issue in the case, but I think it’s important,” Labrador told Pakinomist Digital.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pakinomist APP
Now, more than half of the states in the United States are authorized to enforce the protection of women’s sports without fear of a legal challenge.
However, there are still 23 states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, that have no such laws, and some of them have laws to protect trans athletes in girls’ sports.
