CatholicVote warns Ted Cruz college sports bill poses threat to women’s sports

CatholicVote is warning senators that it will score a vote for the current version of the Protect College Sports Act against them, arguing that the legislation could endanger state protections for women’s and girls’ sports.

In an Aug. 6 letter to the U.S. Senate obtained by Zeale News, CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky urged lawmakers to reject S. 4668 unless it is amended to explicitly preserve state laws maintaining female athletic teams for true females.

“For some inexplicable reason the sponsors of this bill refuse to listen to reason, instead seeking to garner Democrat support for their bill by throwing women under the (sport) bus,” McClusky told Zeale News.

“Great praise for Sens. Hawley, Banks and Tuberville for leading the charge opposing this egregious bill,” he added.

CatholicVote’s objection centers on Section 121 of the revised legislation, which would preempt conflicting state laws and certain state rules governing college, conference, and athletic-association policies on name, image, and likeness compensation, transfers, and athlete eligibility.

The eligibility provisions referenced by the preemption clause concern matters including academic and student status, professional status, eligibility windows, drug violations, sports wagering, and codes of conduct. The text does not establish a sex eligibility rule, nor does it explicitly state that state laws protecting female athletic categories are beyond the reach of the preemption clause.

The bill does contain a savings clause stating that nothing in the legislation should be construed to override, modify, or amend Title IX. CatholicVote argues, however, that this does not clearly protect the approximately 27 state laws reserving women’s and girls’ teams for actual females.

“The preemption language is broad enough that it could preempt or undermine those state eligibility rules,” McClusky wrote in the letter. “Allies have offered a clear fix and have been repeatedly rebuffed.”

The warning comes little more than five weeks after the Supreme Court decided two women’s-sports cases previously covered by Zeale News. In its June 30 opinion, the Court held that states may determine eligibility for women’s and girls’ sports according to biological sex without violating Title IX or the Equal Protection Clause.

Alliance Defending Freedom President, CEO, and Chief Counsel Kristen Waggoner issued an urgent warning Aug. 6 that the current version of the Senate bill “could jeopardize women’s sports.”

“There is a simple fix available: ensure the preemption of state laws is narrow,” Waggoner wrote, urging every senator concerned about equal athletic opportunities for women to demand clarification. She also praised President Trump’s record of protecting women’s sports and warned lawmakers against passing permanent legislation that might undo those gains.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., raised the same concern after reviewing the current draft. Hawley said Wednesday that he was “very concerned it PREEMPTS Missouri’s law banning men in women’s sports,” calling the provision a “big, big problem.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has also opposed what he describes as a federal takeover of collegiate athletics and introduced a narrower Student Athlete Act addressing eligibility and transfers.

Supporters contend that the Protect College Sports Act is needed to replace the existing patchwork of state laws and court rulings with nationwide standards for NIL compensation, transfers, eligibility, and enforcement. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced an earlier version in June.

When the committee released its revised legislation Aug. 4, Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said negotiators had listened to their colleagues, addressed their concerns, and improved the bill. Sponsors also point to provisions intended to preserve scholarships, rosters, and financial support for women’s, Olympic, and non-revenue sports.

Those program-funding provisions, critics counter, do not resolve the separate question of whether states may continue enforcing biological-sex eligibility laws.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture Aug. 5 on the motion to proceed to the legislation, positioning it for a possible procedural vote. The Senate Daily Press Gallery reported Aug. 6 that votes were expected but had not yet been scheduled.

CatholicVote is urging senators to withhold support until the bill expressly protects existing state laws.

“Anything less risks trading hard-won state protections for a federal framework that may erode them,” the group’s letter concluded.