{"id":797,"date":"2026-07-07T12:38:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=797"},"modified":"2026-07-07T12:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T12:38:35","slug":"heres-the-big-question-scotus-left-unanswered-in-its-womens-sports-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=797","title":{"rendered":"Here’s The Big Question SCOTUS Left Unanswered In Its Women’s Sports Ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a monumental ruling last week protecting the sanctity of women\u2019s sports from trans-identifying men. That decision, however, left open a loophole exploited by pro-trans activists in their lawfare against policies recognizing biological reality.<\/p>\n

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In West Virginia v. B.P.J.<\/em> and Little v. Hecox<\/em>, the high court upheld (6-3) laws passed by Idaho and West Virginia ensuring women\u2019s sports are reserved for female athletes. Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh ruled that the statutes do not violate the 14th Amendment\u2019s equal protection clause or, in the B.P.J.<\/em> case, Title IX. <\/p>\n

\u201cConsistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we hold that the States may maintain women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports for biological females. They may determine eligibility for women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports based on biological sex. The Constitution and Title IX do not require an overhaul of women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports throughout America,\u201d Kavanaugh . <\/p>\n

The women\u2019s sports decision builds upon the great work the court did last term when it upheld state laws barring harmful \u201ctrans\u201d procedures from being conducted on minors. In that case (U.S. v. Skrmetti<\/em>), the same 6-3 majority ruled that those statutes do not violate the 14th Amendment\u2019s equal protection clause. <\/p>\n

But much like in Skrmetti<\/em>, the B.P.J.<\/em> majority opinion left a major question unresolved. That is, whether transgender qualifies as a suspect or quasi-suspect class. <\/p>\n

As described by\u00a0Cornell Law School, \u201cSuspect classification refers to a class of individuals who have been historically subject to discrimination\u201d within the law. One of the more prominent examples of suspect class is race. <\/p>\n

When a government law or policy is tailored toward a specific suspect or quasi-suspect class, courts handling litigation over the matter will place that law or policy under strict or intermediate scrutiny (aka a heightened standard of review to determine its legality). In the case of strict scrutiny, the onus falls on the government to demonstrate that its policy satisfies \u201ca compelling government interest\u201d and is \u201cnarrowly tailored to satisfy that interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

As The Federalist previously reported, left-wing attorneys representing trans-identifying clients have argued in their lawfare against policies recognizing biological reality that transgender is a suspect or quasi-suspect class. The goal in doing so, it seems, is to increase the potential for courts to deem these commonsense policies as unlawful and advance the left\u2019s radical \u201ctrans\u201d agenda throughout America\u2019s legal system. <\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s women\u2019s sports ruling, Kavanaugh acknowledged challengers\u2019 \u201cunavailing\u201d argument that the Idaho and West Virginia laws \u201cunconstitutionally discriminate against transgender individuals.\u201d <\/p>\n

He first noted how the laws \u201cdo not classify based on transgender status\u201d but on biological sex. Even if the laws \u201cmade a transgender or gender identity classification,\u201d he added, \u201cthis Court \u2018has not previously held\u2019 that intermediate or other heightened scrutiny applies to a transgender or gender-identity classification.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Kavanaugh subsequently recognized two Skrmetti<\/em> concurring opinions by Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett (joined by Justice Clarence Thomas). The three justices collectively argued that transgender status does not warrant heightened scrutiny and that courts should use rational basis review (a less stringent test than strict or immediate scrutiny) when considering such cases. <\/p>\n

Rather than finally address the transgender classification question in B.P.J.<\/em>, however, the majority once again punted on the issue. \u201cIn these cases,\u201d Kavanaugh wrote, \u201cwe need not definitively resolve whether rational basis review or intermediate scrutiny applies to transgender classifications.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to forgo providing a decisive answer on the matter did not go unnoticed by Thomas. The Bush 41 appointee authored a concurrence quoting from Alito\u2019s and Barrett\u2019s Skrmetti<\/em> opinions to once again argue that \u201ctransgender status is not a suspect class requiring heightened equal-protection scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe class of people who claim transgender status could more accurately be described as people who are experiencing \u2018gender dysphoria,\u2019 which is not a \u2018discrete group,’\u201d Thomas wrote. \u201cBecause \u2018gender dysphoria\u2019 is a mutable mental state that is the object of psychiatric treatment, it does not resemble the immutable characteristics on the basis of which our precedents have applied heightened scrutiny \u2014 race, sex, or national origin. Instead, gender dysphoria resembles other characteristics on the basis of which legislatures may classify with a merely rational basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislatures have many obvious rational bases to keep men who believe that they are women out of teams and private spaces reserved for women,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

When asked during a recent Federalist Society forum on the B.P.J.<\/em> ruling, Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Rachel Morrison expressed skepticism about whether the court will be asked to directly address the transgender classification question in upcoming litigation. She pointed out how many of the contested laws thus far (such as those in B.P.J.<\/em> and Hecox<\/em>) have made distinctions based on sex and not transgender status. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t see an exclusion of like, \u2018No one who identifies as transgender can participate at all.\u2019 \u2026 There\u2019s a male team and a female team and then, whether you\u2019re male or female, that\u2019s the team you have to be on. And then the [pro-trans] folks [are] trying to say that that\u2019s gender identity discrimination or transgender status discrimination,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m not actually sure \u2026 if we will see that issue because I don\u2019t see \u2026 overt exclusions \u2026 or classifications based on transgender or gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether a majority of SCOTUS justices ultimately say transgender is not a suspect class remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is the longer they kick the can down the road, the longer \u201ctrans\u201d activists will keep making the argument in court in their attempt to hinder laws recognizing biological reality.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump, Mamdani Draw Battle Lines For America In Independence Day Speeches<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much like last year, the Supreme Court punted on the question of whether transgender is a suspect class in its recent women’s sports ruling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[866,515,211,2395,445,2618,135,2396,836,2398,1121],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scotus","tag-brett-kavanaugh","tag-clarence-thomas","tag-lawfare","tag-little-v-hecox","tag-scotus","tag-strict-scrutiny","tag-supreme-court","tag-suspect-class","tag-transgender","tag-west-virginia-v-b-p-j","tag-womens-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nHere’s The Big Question SCOTUS Left Unanswered In Its Women’s Sports Ruling - Property Transition Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=797\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here’s The Big Question SCOTUS Left Unanswered In Its Women’s Sports Ruling - Property Transition Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Much like last year, the Supreme Court punted on the question of whether transgender is a suspect class in its recent women's sports ruling.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/propertytransitionmedia.com\/?p=797\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Property Transition Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T12:38:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/propertytransitionmedia.com\\\/?p=797#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/propertytransitionmedia.com\\\/?p=797\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/propertytransitionmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/318e38080556664c79a2d76a6b0894b2\"},\"headline\":\"Here’s The Big Question SCOTUS Left Unanswered In Its Women’s Sports Ruling\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-07T12:38:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/propertytransitionmedia.com\\\/?p=797\"},\"wordCount\":1012,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/propertytransitionmedia.com\\\/?p=797#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/propertytransitionmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7260b1de19a4c5e4ce47a6a5f9650dd5.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Brett Kavanaugh\",\"Clarence Thomas\",\"lawfare\",\"Little v. 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