MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WDNews) — According to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office, Attorney General Steve Marshall is urging congressional leaders to support language in the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 dealing with eligibility for women’s college sports.
Marshall joined Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill in leading a letter sent Sept. 23 to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson. The attorneys general said the proposed language would preserve states’ ability to enforce laws governing eligibility for women’s sports.
“In Alabama, we will not apologize for protecting opportunities that our female athletes have earned. Yet, the inclusion of this language in the Protect College Sports Act is unfortunately necessary to fix the culture of college sports and ensure that only women compete in women’s sports,” Marshall said.
S. 4668 would establish federal rules involving college athletes’ name, image and likeness agreements and other areas of intercollegiate athletics. The Senate approved the Cruz-Cantwell substitute amendment to the bill Thursday, Sept. 24, in a 77-23 vote.
In their letter, the attorneys general wrote:
“Republican State Attorneys General have fought tirelessly to close all loopholes that allow men to participate in women’s sports, and we have prevailed in the courts. Twenty-seven states currently have laws that prohibit males from playing on women’s sports teams. It would be a grave disservice to the people of those states if we do not make clear that they, through their legislatures, remain empowered to enact and enforce such laws.”
The letter said a previous version of S. 4668 created what the attorneys general described as an ambiguity involving state enforcement authority. They said the amendment narrows part of Section 121(a)(2)(C) to “any provision described in subsection (a)(1)-(3) or (b) of section 113 relating to the eligibility of a student athlete to participate in intercollegiate athletics.”
The attorneys general continued:
“To protect college sports, you have to protect women’s sports. As Attorneys General, we have vigorously defended fairness in women’s sports and have successfully stood up for women’s opportunities, privacy, and safety. We understand this is a challenging problem, and we ask that you speak clearly to ensure that we can continue to enforce state laws that prohibit biological males from competing in female sports.”
The letter also cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 30 decision in West Virginia v. B.P.J. The court ruled that states may use biological sex to determine eligibility for female sports teams under the laws at issue in the case.
The attorneys general quoted the court as saying, “States may maintain separate women’s and men’s teams—in other words, that the States may make distinctions based on sex—because of the inherent physical differences between women and men.”
The letter also cited another passage from the ruling:
“Participation in sports has enabled countless American women and girls to be on a team, to take part in the human drama of athletic competition, to overcome the agony of defeat and know the thrill of victory. And those lessons and experiences in sports have empowered millions of American women who have gone on to thrive in all aspects of American life.”
Along with Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, attorneys general from Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah joined the letter.
