The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld two state laws that ban transgender athletes from competing in sporting events for girls and women at public schools—the latest blow the conservative-majority Court has dealt to transgender rights.

In a 6-3 decision that split along ideological lines in both a case out of West Virginia and one out of Idaho, the Justices ruled that state schools can restrict women’s and girls’ sports for biological females under Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally-funded educational programs. 

“Put simply, the statute and regulations do not speak to that issue in a way that could properly be interpreted to require schools to allow biological males to participate in women’s and girls’ sports,” the majority opinion, penned by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writes. 

In the dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor contends that some “unresolved factual questions” of the case still need to be litigated in the lower court, and that the majority did not give the plaintiff a “fair and full opportunity” before making a ruling. She also criticized the majority opinion that limits the Title IX protection to biological sex.

“Title IX makes room for individuals to live in the gender they choose; it cares not just about sex assigned at birth but also about individuals’ ability to match (or not) their gender presentation to their gender identity,” Sotomayor writes. 

President Donald Trump took to social media to celebrate the Supreme Court’s ruling in the two cases, calling the outcome a “BIG WIN.”

“That takes that ridiculous situation off the table!!!” he said in a Truth Social post.

Many advocacy organizations, meanwhile, condemned the court’s decision.

“This is a heartbreaking ruling for our clients and transgender girls like them who’ve asked for nothing more than the same opportunities afforded to their peers,” Joshua Block, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project, said in a statement. “The reality is that the equality of transgender women and girls takes nothing away from, and in fact promotes, the equality of all women and girls.”

The Transgender Law Center called the ruling “a painful setback,” adding that, while the long-term consequences of it have yet to be seen, “it may affect civil rights protections for transgender people beyond school sports.”

“Every young person deserves the opportunity to play, build confidence, find community, and thrive. No one should face discrimination or exclusion because of who they are,” the center said in a statement. “Sports should be a place where young people grow, connect, and experience belonging.” 

The organization went on to say that it is “committed to pursuing every legal avenue available” and will share more resources and guidance regarding the court’s ruling in the coming days.

“Courts have never determined our humanity or our right to exist,” the center added. “Our communities have always organized, cared for one another, and fought for a future where every person can live freely as themselves.”

But while advocacy organizations lamented the harm the ruling would pose to transgender athletes, they also stressed that the decision doesn’t extend bans beyond where they already exist.

“This isn’t a national mandate to ban trans athletes everywhere,” Sasha Buchert, senior attorney and director of Lambda Legal’s Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project, said during a press conference on Tuesday. This is “a fight that’s going to continue—state by state, school by school.”

“States, schools, and athletic associations should be taking every step to ensure that athletic opportunities exist for transgender girls,” Buchert continued, adding that the ruling “won’t have any direct impact on places where there isn’t a discriminatory ban on athletics.”

The cases before the Supreme Court stemmed from lawsuits that a now-high school student in West Virginia and a college student in Idaho filed against their states’ respective laws, which mandate that athletes must compete in sporting events based on their “biological sex.”

The plaintiffs’ attorneys in both cases argued that the bans violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The plaintiff’s attorneys in the West Virginia case also argued that the state’s law violates Title IX.

The solicitors general for Idaho and West Virginia, meanwhile, argued that the laws are intended to ensure fair and equal opportunities for girls and women in sports.

As well as upholding those states’ bans, the justices’ rulings also serve to bolster similar restrictions on transgender athletes’ participation in sports that more than two dozen other states have passed. Idaho was the first U.S. state to enact such a ban, when Republican Gov. Brad Little signed the bill into law in 2020.