Women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines confirmed that she plans to appeal her lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) over its policies regarding transgender-identifying athletes to the Supreme Court.
In a post on X, Gaines responded to a post from Fox News reporter Jackson Thompson about how U.S. District Judge Tiffany R. Johnson of the Northern District of Georgia dismissed Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA.
“If the NCAA isn’t subject to Title IX, then WHO is?” Gaines asked. “Of course, we will appeal. The goal from the beginning was to get this case before the Supreme Court.”
Breitbart News’s Warner Todd Huston reported that Johnson, a Biden-appointed judge, argued that “Gaines could not sue the NCAA for violating federal Title IX rules because the NCAA does not directly receive federal funding”:
U.S. District Judge Tiffany R. Johnson of the Northern District of Georgia dismissed the case on Monday and ruled that Gaines could not sue the NCAA for violating federal Title IX rules because the NCAA does not directly receive federal funding and therefore is not subject to the title’s regulations, the Daily Mail reported.
The judge also rejected the argument that the NCAA indirectly benefits from federal funding because all its member schools take federal education dollars and are subject to Title IX rules.
“Here, there is no evidence that the NCAA ever received, or could have received, federal funds,” the judge wrote. “Thus, Plaintiffs’ Title IX claims cannot proceed.”
In a statement on Monday, Gaines expressed that the ruling would “not deter” her or other female athletes.
“Rest assured, we will be appealing this decision,” Gaines added. “We are on the side of truth. I am confident Americans will rally to our side to fight the NCAA. Working together, we will defeat the NCAA’s continuing efforts to trample women’s rights in sports.”
Gaines has previously criticized the NCAA for claiming that it rewrote “its rules to comply” with an executive order that President Donald Trump signed in February 2025, to protect women’s sports from transgender athletes.
“This policy is just about as clear as mud, and very, very much still allows men to compete on women’s teams and to receive women’s benefits,” Gaines said at the time.