American Olympic runner Nikki Hiltz, who identifies as transgender nonbinary, reacts to Supreme Court ruling
American Olympic runner Nikki Hiltz, who identifies as a non-binary transgender, reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision on transgender athletes on Saturday.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Tuesday in favor of West Virginia and Idaho against transgender athletes who sued to provide access to girls’ sports. The states were supported by the law firm Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), while transgender athletes were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Cooley Legal.
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Nikki Hiltz reacts after winning the women’s 1,500-meter race in a record time of 3:55.33 during the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Hayward Field on June 30, 2024. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
In highly anticipated decisions in West Virginia v. BPJ and Little v. Hecox, the high court upheld state laws requiring student-athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond to their biological sex at birth rather than their gender identity.
Hiltz competed at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, winning the mile race with a time of 4:17.49.
“I’m not surprised, but I’m still disappointed,” Hiltz said of the decision, via The Athletic . “For me, I want to show that transgender people can play sports, that their gender can be affirmed. We’re not these big, scary things.”
Hiltz added: “It’s a really strange time for a lot of different communities in our country, especially mine.”
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Nikki Hiltz (USA) after the women’s 1,500 meters final at the World Athletics Championships at the National Stadium on September 16, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
Hiltz, who has always competed in women’s races, has previously made statements about her gender identity.
“The best way to express my gender is to be fluid,” Hiltz wrote in an Instagram post last year. “Sometimes I wake up feeling like a powerful queen, and other days I wake up feeling like I’m just a man pretending to be a man, and other times I identify completely outside the gender binary.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the Supreme Court opinion.
“Consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause, we believe that States may maintain sports for women and girls for biological females. They may determine eligibility for sports for women and girls based on biological sex,” the opinion stated.
More than half of the states in the U.S. now have the authority to enforce protections for women’s sports without fear of a legal challenge.
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Nikki Hiltz of the United States celebrates winning the Women’s Wanamaker Mile during the Millrose Games in New York City on Sunday, February 1, 2026. Hiltz took first place with a time of 4:19.64. (Kevin R. Wexler / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
But 23 states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, still do not have such laws, and some of them have laws designed to protect transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
