A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling could shape the future of Missouri’s law restricting transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
The state law, which took effect in 2023, is set to expire Aug. 28, 2027, unless lawmakers vote to extend it.
Charles Rhodes, professor of law at the University of Missouri, said the court’s ruling gives state legislators the legal clearance to make the law permanent.
“If this law is made permanent, it is clearly constitutional under the court’s interpretation in this case,” Rhodes explained.
The case began after transgender girls in West Virginia and Idaho challenged state laws preventing them from competing on girls’ sports teams. They argued the laws violate the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and Title IX, the federal law banning sex discrimination in education.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court disagreed, saying states have a legitimate interest in protecting fairness and safety in girls’ and women’s sports. Rhodes pointed out the decision helps predict the outcome of future legal challenges to Missouri’s law.
“The Missouri law, as it’s currently written, is going to withstand any kind of challenge, so it makes it pretty unlikely that there will be a challenge to it,” Rhodes noted.
Rhodes added the Supreme Court did not tell states what they must do. Instead, it clarified what they are legally allowed to do.
“It’s going to be up to each state to make that determination of what they want the coverage of that law to be, or if they want to have this law at all,” he emphasized.
Similar laws are already on the books in 27 states. Missouri is the only state with a law automatically set to expire unless lawmakers vote to extend it before the deadline.
Missouri News Service, a news partner with KRCU Public Radio, originally published this story.
