Dear Friends,
Last week, I joined 25 attorneys general demanding the NCAA restore championships, records, and awards to female athletes who were cheated out of what they earned. For years, biological males competed in women’s sports and stole honors that belonged to the women who trained for them.
The letter to NCAA President Charlie Baker is straightforward: develop a plan to give back what was wrongfully taken. Women athletes “strived, succeeded, and were cheated of what they earned,” and it’s time to make it right.
Idaho has been leading this fight since 2020, when we became the first state in the nation to protect women’s sports. Our HB500 banned biological males from competing in female categories—a common-sense law that dozens of states have now copied. We drew the line when others wouldn’t.
The NCAA’s new policy limiting women’s sports to student-athletes “assigned female at birth only” is a good start, but it doesn’t fix the damage already done. Female athletes lost scholarships, records, and recognition because the Biden Administration and NCAA let males take what didn’t belong to them. Those victories need to be restored.
The University of Pennsylvania recently announced it will comply with President Trump’s executive orders and review the records of Lia Thomas, the male swimmer who took titles from female competitors. That’s exactly what should happen everywhere. Every institution that allowed this injustice needs to fix their records.
On top of this, earlier this month, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Idaho’s case in Little v. Hecox where my office is defending Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act after the Ninth Circuit Court blocked its enforcement. This is our chance to settle the question of whether states can protect women’s athletics based on biological reality.
The legal foundation is solid. The Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Skrmetti upheld Tennessee’s law protecting children from experimental gender procedures. That ruling confirmed states have authority to make policies based on biological sex. Our women’s sports case should follow the same logic.
President Trump has been crucial to this momentum. His executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” was signed hours after inauguration. The Department of Education reversed Biden’s Title IX rewrite that forced schools to let males into girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms. Federal agencies are now prioritizing enforcement against institutions that deny female students equal opportunities.
We couldn’t have gotten here without brave female athletes who refused to accept injustice. Madison Kenyon and Mary Kate Marshall from Idaho State University had to race against a biological male from the University of Montana. Instead of staying quiet, they fought back, and their courage helped make this national movement possible.
Idaho’s leadership on this issue shows what happens when states refuse to bow to political pressure. While other states hesitated, we acted. While activists sued to stop us, we defended our law in court. While the Biden Administration attacked states’ rights, we stood firm.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in our case next year. This represents the best opportunity to establish nationwide protection for women’s sports. If we win, states will have clear authority to ensure female athletes get the fair competition they deserve.
Every girl in Idaho deserves to compete on a level playing field. They deserve recognition for their achievements and opportunities to earn scholarships based on their talent and hard work. We’re fighting to make sure that happens—not just in Idaho, but across the country.
The tide has turned in favor of common sense and fairness. Now we need to finish the job by restoring what was stolen and protecting future generations of female athletes.
Best regards,
