Supreme Court ruling clears way for Missouri trans athlete ban
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Missouri Republicans have a clear path to make the state's ban on transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports permanent, after a Supreme Court ruling Tuesday stripped away the legal questions hanging over such laws.
Why it matters: Missouri's ban is set to expire in 2027, and a push to lock it in for good fell short this year. The ruling hands supporters new footing heading into the next session.
Catch up quick: The decision came from lawsuits in West Virginia and Idaho, where two transgender students were kept off teams.
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the 6-3 majority, said schools can set eligibility by sex assigned at birth without violating the Constitution or Title IX, the federal ban on sex discrimination in education.
- The three liberal justices dissented.
The intrigue: Missouri's is the only statewide ban in the country built to expire, sunsetting Aug. 28, 2027, unless lawmakers act first.
- A bid to scrap that deadline cleared the House 98-37 in February but died in the Senate in May. Republicans get their next shot when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Zoom out: Both Missouri and Kansas already keep transgender students off teams matching their gender identity, putting the metro on the same side of the issue across the state line.
- Kansas acted first, passing the Fairness in Women's Sports Act in April 2023 by overriding Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's third such veto in three years. It has no expiration date.
- Missouri's law, signed by then-Gov. Mike Parson that June, reaches public, private and charter schools through the college level and strips state funding from any school that breaks it.
By the numbers: The bans cover a small group. As of a 2022 count, Missouri's high school activities association had cleared 12 transgender students to compete since 2012.
- In Kansas, the activities association counted three transgender girls in school sports the year its ban took effect, and two were set to graduate that spring.
- NCAA president Charlie Baker told a Senate panel in 2023 that, of the organization's 510,000 athletes, fewer than 10 were transgender.
What's next: The ruling removes the legal cloud that trailed both states' bans, and Kansas' law, with no sunset, stays in force.