Minnesota Supreme Court: USA Powerlifting Discriminated Against Trans Athlete

The Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously held that USA Powerlifting discriminated against transgender powerlifter JayCee Cooper by denying her the ability to compete in the organization’s women’s division, finding the policy facially discriminatory under the Minnesota Human Rights Act. The court affirmed that Cooper — who was rejected in 2018 and sued in 2021 after filing an administrative complaint — had been granted partial summary judgment on the public-accommodations discrimination claim. Justices remanded part of the case to Ramsey County District Court to resolve whether USA Powerlifting can invoke the MHRA’s “legitimate business purpose” defense, i.e., whether excluding trans women is necessary to ensure competitive fairness. USA Powerlifting argued athletes assigned male at birth retain physical advantages and pointed to an open MX division it created, while Cooper’s attorneys and advocates say the ban categorically targets transgender people. The ruling is a significant state-level affirmation of protections for transgender athletes but leaves factual questions about competitive fairness to be decided below.