The question
Whether Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause permit schools to maintain women's and girls' sports teams defined by biological sex.
West Virginia v. B. P. J.
What the Court decided
The Court reversed the Fourth and Ninth Circuits and remanded, upholding West Virginia's and Idaho's laws that restrict female sports teams to biological females. Title IX allows schools to provide separate men's and women's teams defined by biological sex. The Equal Protection Clause does not bar States from maintaining female teams for biological females, because laws separating teams by biological sex are subject to intermediate scrutiny and satisfy it by serving the important governmental interest of promoting equal athletic opportunities for women and girls.
How the justices split
6-3The Court's opinion
Kavanaugh, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Barrett
Title IX permits schools to provide separate women's and men's sports teams defined by biological sex, and West Virginia permissibly maintained female sports for biological females. The Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit States from maintaining female teams for biological females, because laws separating teams by biological sex are subject to intermediate scrutiny and satisfy it by serving the important governmental interest of promoting equal athletic opportunities for women and girls.
Concurring
Thomas, writing alone
Thomas joined the Court's opinion and wrote separately to add his own reasoning.
Concurring
Gorsuch, writing alone
Gorsuch joined the Court's opinion and wrote separately to add his own reasoning.
Dissenting in part and in the judgment
Sotomayor, joined by Kagan, Jackson
Sotomayor concurred in the judgment in part and dissented in part, agreeing with the outcome only in part and disagreeing with the Court's resolution of the Title IX and Equal Protection questions in the remaining part.
Dissenting in part and in the judgment
Jackson, writing alone
Jackson concurred in the judgment in part and dissented in part in a separate opinion, agreeing with the outcome only in part and disagreeing with the Court's reasoning in the remaining part.
How we know · 5 sourced claims
The Court reversed the judgments of both the Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit and remanded the cases.
Source: syllabus, Held
The Court held that Title IX allows schools to provide separate women's and men's sports teams defined by biological sex.
Source: syllabus, Held
The Court held that laws separating sports teams by biological sex are subject to intermediate scrutiny and satisfy it by serving the important governmental interest of promoting equal athletic opportunities for women and girls.
Source: syllabus, Held
Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett.
Source: syllabus, lineup
Sotomayor filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, joined by Kagan and Jackson, and Jackson also filed a separate opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.
Source: syllabus, lineup