We have covered the case of JayCee Cooper v. USA Powerlifting in several posts over the past two years. The case raised the question whether USAPL’s separation of men from women in USAPL’s Minnesota competitions violates the Minnesota Human Rights Act and must yield to Cooper’s self-identification as a woman. The case gestated for nearly a year at the Minnesota Supreme Court only to be delivered as Rosemary’s baby (the link is to the Court’s opinion).
It was bad. The Court has held that USAPL unlawfully discriminated against Cooper as a matter of law while leaving only damages and a business discrimination claim to be decided by a jury.
Yesterday USAPL let us know that it has settled the case and thanked us for our coverage. This is from the press release it forwarded to us:
Following more than six years of litigation and a Minnesota Supreme Court opinion that complicated future legal pathways, USA Powerlifting today announced a settlement agreement with the plaintiff in the case JayCee Cooper vs. USA Powerlifting. The case turned on the ability of sporting organizations to maintain categories based on male and female physiology to ensure fair competition in strength-based sports.
The news comes as the International Olympic Committee recently banned transgender women from all Olympic events, an action that will include powerlifting given the International Powerlifting Federation’s alignment with IOC policies in setting and enforcing standards for the sport internationally. Cooper’s attorneys had used the IOC’s previous position on transgender athletes as a key pillar of their legal argument and expert testimony. As athletic organizations around the world increasingly codify sex-based competition categories, the state supreme court’s ruling has placed Minnesota increasingly at odds with national and international sports standards.
“What the plaintiffs cast as a victory for transgender rights is a ruling that has forced Minnesota to take a step backward for women, fair competition and common sense,” said former USAPL president and national women’s powerlifting coach Larry Maile. “We continue to believe strongly in the merits of our case, which are supported by global competition standards and bipartisan public sentiment. But left with few legal options, settlement is in the best interests of the organization.”
Operating as a nonprofit funded by membership dues and competition fees, the nation’s leading drug-tested powerlifting organization determined that continuing to pursue legal resolution carried greater risks and costs than achieving a settlement. Despite the Minnesota Supreme Court’s ruling that Cooper’s business discrimination claim merited a jury’s review, Cooper’s lawyers indicated they would dismiss that claim. This action denied USAPL the opportunity it had sought for six years: to present arguments to a jury demonstrating transgender women have an inherent strength advantage in powerlifting that warrants maintaining sex-based categories.
USAPL has made no decision yet on next steps in its Minnesota operations to comply with the recent ruling, but organization leadership will review the matter in the coming weeks. Its operations in other states are unaffected by the agreement.
“The state Supreme Court ruling has created legal dissonance for Minnesota sporting organizations, where complying with state law risks creating federal liability and vice versa,” Maile said. “We would like to avoid becoming an agent of discrimination against the largest protected class in the country — women.”
“The fact remains that Minnesota is increasingly out of step with unrefuted science showing a 64% strength advantage for male-born athletes,” Maile added. “The state is running counter to recent federal court rulings on this issue, international actions and overwhelming public opinion.”
The press release concludes: “USAPL expressed its gratitude for the outpouring of support they received from across the country throughout the case, as evidenced by the nearly 100 elite female athletes, Olympians, national champions, and parents who supported their efforts to protect fairness in women’s sports. USAPL remains committed to serving every athlete with respect and integrity.”
Ansis Viksnins represented USAPL in the lawsuit. I asked Ansis for his comment yesterday. He responded by email last night:
You may recall that the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a mixed decision in October 2025, finding that USA Powerlifting had, as a matter of law, denied Cooper public accommodations, but also finding fact issues on Cooper’s business discrimination claim. Cooper’s attorneys subsequently announced that they would dismiss the business discrimination claim, so the only issues remaining for trial would be whether Cooper sustained damages on [the] public accommodations claim and what amount of attorney fees and costs should be awarded Cooper. USA Powerlifting made the hard business decision that it simply did not make financial sense to continue litigating the remaining issues and that a settlement was the best option for the organization.
One of my main concerns going forward is that Minnesota law, as stated by our Supreme Court in the Cooper case, seems to be on a collision course with federal law, at least as federal law is interpreted by the current Administration. USA Powerlifting has been placed in an unenviable position. USA Powerlifting faces liability for violating the Minnesota Human Rights Act if it excludes transgender women and potentially faces liability for violating Title VII or Title IX if it allows transgender women to compete in the women’s division. The Minnesota Supreme Court opinion is, in my opinion, not only bad law and bad public policy, but creates an exceedingly difficult situation for athletic organizations who want to operate in Minnesota.
I will conclude our coverage of this case on a familiar note. The Star Tribune published Minnesota Lynx president Cheryl Reeve’s op-ed column celebrating the trial’s ruling against USAPL even before the Star Tribune got around to reporting it. Reeve omitted any discussion of the possible participation of “trans women” athletes in the WNBA. It wouldn’t take many JayCee Coopers to render the WNBA a farce.
