Supreme Court ruling clears way for Missouri trans athlete ban

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.