New York Judge Upends Trump Sports Push

Judges gavel on desk with person writing.

A New York judge just told a university it cannot hide behind Trump’s sports order to kick a transgender runner out of a women’s track meet.

Story Snapshot

New York judge says state gender-identity protections beat President Trump’s Executive Order 14201 in a campus sports dispute.^[1]
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute blocked transgender runner Sadie Schreiner from a women’s meet, then lost its first big court fight.^[4]
The judge rejected the school’s Title IX claim, saying it failed to show any federal rule that flatly bans transgender women from women’s sports.^[1]
The Supreme Court is at the same time signaling support for state bans that keep biological males out of girls’ and women’s athletics.^[3]

New York judge backs transgender runner over university ban

A New York county supreme court judge ruled that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wrongly blocked transgender track athlete Sadie Schreiner from a women’s meet and cannot use President Trump’s sports order as a legal shield.^[1]^[4] The school relied on Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which directs federal agencies to treat transgender participation as a Title IX violation.^[11]^[17] The judge said that order does not override New York’s civil rights law, which bans discrimination based on gender identity.^[1] That ruling keeps Schreiner’s lawsuit alive and forces the university to defend its actions in a full trial.^[4]

In his opinion, the judge stressed that Executive Order 14201 is not a statute, not a regulation, and does not involve foreign policy.^[1] Because of that, he concluded it cannot preempt a state law that offers broader protection to gender-identities in education and sports.^[1] He also dismissed the university’s attempt to hide behind Title IX, noting the school “merely gives lip service” to claims that federal law categorically bans transgender women from women’s sports, without pointing to any specific Department of Education rule that says so.^[1] For New York schools, this sends a clear message: state civil rights rules still matter, even under a tough federal executive order.

Trump’s sports order and NCAA rules face growing court tests

President Trump’s Executive Order 14201 tells the Department of Justice and the Department of Education to read Title IX as keeping men out of women’s sports and treats transgender athletes as a threat to fairness and safety for girls.^[11]^[17] The order warns that schools allowing transgender participation could lose federal funding, putting heavy pressure on colleges that depend on Washington dollars.^[10] The National Collegiate Athletic Association changed its own rules to match that approach, barring athletes assigned male at birth from women’s competitions to create one clear national standard.^[13] That has drawn praise from many parents who worry about their daughters’ opportunities, but it has also triggered lawsuits from transgender athletes and civil liberties groups.^[25]

Across the country, courts are split on these fights. Some rulings have backed inclusion when athletes show long-term hormone treatment, blocking blanket bans that treat all transgender women the same.^[18] Other judges, and now a likely majority on the Supreme Court, agree with states like Idaho and West Virginia that laws can draw a hard line based on biological sex at birth.^[5]^[6]^[19] In those cases, state lawyers argue that male physiology gives lasting advantages and that barring transgender women protects equal opportunity for girls.^[5]^[19] The New York decision in Schreiner’s case cuts the other way, showing that state-level protections can still win even as federal policy and many red-state laws move toward strict separation.

Supreme Court’s coming call and what it means for girls’ sports

The Supreme Court recently heard two major cases from Idaho and West Virginia that challenge laws barring transgender women and girls from female school sports.^[5]^[19] After hours of argument, most justices seemed ready to uphold those bans, though it is not yet clear how broad the ruling will be.^[6] Reporters covering the hearing say the conservative majority appears to view sex-separated teams as based on biological sex, not gender identity, and that questions about hormone therapy may not change that legal framing.^[6] If the Court sides with the states, more than two dozen other states with similar laws will gain strong backing to keep biological males off girls’ rosters.^[3]^[24]

A New York judge ruled against a university that blocked a transgender athlete from competing in a women's track meet, saying that state law banning discrimination based on gender identity supersedes President Trump's executive order on female sports. https://t.co/Nz8RCizHJK

— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) June 27, 2026

For parents and athletes, this mix of rulings creates a patchwork America. In states like New York, judges are willing to let transgender women compete under gender-identity protections and to push back on both federal orders and university bans.^[1]^[4] In many other states, and likely soon at the Supreme Court, courts are endorsing hard biological sex lines in school and college sports.^[3]^[6]^[19] That tension will keep driving lawsuits, and it means families who care deeply about girls’ safety, fairness, and scholarship chances must watch both state capitals and Washington closely as this legal battle over women’s sports continues to unfold.