Former collegiate swimmer and activist Riley Gaines’s lawsuit over the NCAA’s former transgender-athlete policy was dismissed by a judge this week, in a decision that did not say whether the policy violated the rights of female competitors.
The case ended, instead, because U.S. District Judge Tiffany Johnson found that the defendant — the NCAA — does not receive the federal funding that would potentially make it liable under Title IX.
U.S. Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) portrayed that result as a legal escape for the NCAA.
“A Biden-appointed judge has now dismissed their lawsuit, saying the NCAA doesn’t receive federal funds, so Title IX doesn’t apply to it,” Mace wrote. “They’re appealing and I hope they win.”
Mace added: “It’s misogyny for anyone to force girls against their rights of consent, to have boys play in their sports or be in their private spaces.”
In 2024, Riley Gaines and more than a dozen other female athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for letting a biological male compete against women and share their locker room.
A Biden-appointed judge has now dismissed their lawsuit, saying the NCAA doesn’t receive federal… pic.twitter.com/ixPgsN1DG1
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) September 30, 2026
Gaines and more than a dozen other current and former college athletes filed the lawsuit in 2024. They alleged that the NCAA discriminated against women by allowing transgender women to compete in women’s events and use women’s locker rooms.
The complaint grew out of the 2022 NCAA Division I swimming championships at Georgia Tech. Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania, won the 500-yard freestyle and tied Gaines for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle. Gaines said she and other swimmers were also required to share a locker room with Thomas.
Johnson had previously allowed the athletes to investigate whether a concussion-research partnership between the NCAA and the Department of Defense made the association a recipient of federal money.
The evidence showed that both organizations contributed money to research administered through Indiana University. The Defense Department’s share went to the university and other research participants, however, rather than to the NCAA.
“Here, there is no evidence that the NCAA ever received, or could have received, federal funds,” Johnson wrote. “Thus, Plaintiffs’ Title IX claims cannot proceed.”
Gaines said the decision would not end the athletes’ challenge.
“This momentary setback will not deter me or other women athletes in the least,” Gaines said. “Rest assured, we will be appealing this decision.”
The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), which has supported the plaintiffs, said it expects the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to find that the NCAA is covered by Title IX.
“We will not give up our fight for women and girls’ rights in sports,” ICONS co-founder Kim Jones said. She accused the NCAA of failing athletes who “depended on the NCAA to protect their equal opportunities.”
[NOTE: The NCAA replaced the policy challenged in the lawsuit after President Trump issued an executive order in February 2025. Its current policy prohibits athletes assigned male at birth from competing on women’s teams or receiving scholarships designated for women.]
