GOP Governors Ask Supreme Court Judges to Defend Women’s Sports

Articles | January 13, 2026 | by Catholics for Catholics

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In a case from Idaho and West Virginia, where the future of women’s sports is at stake.

By Catholics for Catholics

As the Supreme Court deliberates whether transgender athletes should be permitted to take part in girls’ and women’s competitions, GOP governors are warning that on the line is the future of women’s sports.

The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments from the states of Idaho and West Virginia. Both are looking to protect women’s sports. They claim they are defending their laws in defense of women.

“Recognizing the unique and inherent biological differences between men and women is not radical, it is common sense,” the GOP governors emphasized in a statement shared first with Fox News Digital.

The governors contended: “Those trying to erase our unique differences and ignore biological reality are doing so in the name of ‘inclusivity.’ Forcing women and girls to compete against men, with greater strength and speed, is the opposite of inclusive. It’s unfair. For generations, women fought for equal opportunity on the playing field and won over 50 years ago with the passage of Title IX, and now that right is at risk again.”

But now, the Supreme Court judges will hear arguments in the cases from Idaho and West Virginia, where lower federal courts have blocked state laws that would ban transgender athletes from playing on female teams.

“Blurring the biological line between men and women breaks down the protections afforded to both biological sexes, and only emboldens those who wish to destroy inherent truths. Together, we stand with Idaho and West Virginia in their case at the Supreme Court,” the Republican governors said in their letter.

Hell has frozen over, apparently, as the Washington Post Editorial Board actually published this:

"The Supreme Court has the chance this week to save women’s sports, allowing states to restore a level playing field for girls by excluding biological men and thereby correcting one… pic.twitter.com/qzkMsUb9ZC

— Isabel Brown (@theisabelb) January 13, 2026

The high court’s ruling on the twin cases will probably decide whether the laws in Idaho and West Virginia, and similar measures in 27 other states, will stand.

But the states of Idaho and West Virginia, in requesting the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court rulings, maintain that sex and gender identity are not the same when it comes to female sports and that permitting transgender athletes to compete against girls is both unfair and not safe.

Lower courts have ruled that the bans discriminate “on the basis of sex” in violation of Title IX, which is a landmark civil rights law designed to promote equal opportunities for women and girls in sports, under the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

GOP Governors from the following states signed the request to the Supreme Court: Kay Ivey of Alabama, Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, Sarah Sanders of Arkansas, Ron DeSantis of Florida, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Brad Little of Idaho, Mike Braun of Indiana, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Mike Kehoe of Missouri, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Jim Pillen of Nebraska, Joe Lombardo of Nevada, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, Henry Dargan McMaster of South Carolina, Larry Rhoden of South Dakota, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Greg Abbott of Texas, Spencer Cox of Utah, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia and Mark Gordon of Wyoming.