Washington education officials and two other defendants have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny emergency relief sought by a teenage wrestler who says she was sexually assaulted during a girls’ match against a transgender opponent. Their filings dispute whether the wrestler faces an imminent injury and whether the requested protections are within their power to provide.
The case was brought by Kallie Keeler, identified in court documents as K.M.K., and her mother, Stephanie Lynne Brown. The family seeks an order allowing Keeler to wrestle without being matched against a male athlete, or requiring advance notice and an opportunity to withdraw without penalty. The Supreme Court had not ruled as of Tuesday evening.
In one of three responses filed Tuesday, attorneys for Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and Superintendent Chris Reykdal said the family had not shown a likelihood of future harm requiring immediate action. They pointed to the roughly six-month gap between the December 2025 match and the lawsuit, followed by about another month before the family sought a preliminary injunction. The state characterized the claimed emergency as manufactured and argued that the timing of the family’s stated concerns changed as soccer, the school year and wrestling season approached.
A district judge denied a preliminary injunction Aug. 23, and the Ninth Circuit rejected an emergency request Sept. 25. The family is also asking the Supreme Court to take up the underlying dispute before the Ninth Circuit completes its review. The defendants urged the justices to let the lower-court proceedings continue.
The Puyallup School District disputed the family’s account that it had failed to offer accommodations. Its filing cited a separate testing room, counseling, an independent investigation and expedited approval of Keeler’s transfer to Puyallup High School. The district said its Title IX investigation into the alleged assault remained open and unresolved.
Pierce County prosecutors previously declined to charge the opponent, according to the supplied court-case account, saying they could not prove third-degree rape beyond a reasonable doubt or overcome a consent defense under case law concerning athletic contests. That decision is separate from the district’s ongoing Title IX inquiry and does not resolve the allegations in that investigation.
The district said Keeler may decline to compete without additional consequences imposed by the district. But the family argues that a withdrawal can still result in a recorded forfeit or loss under national high school wrestling rules. The district says it cannot alter those rules, control every tournament bracket or disclose another student’s transgender status.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, also a defendant, advanced separate arguments. It said Title IX does not apply to the private nonprofit because it receives no federal funding, citing the Supreme Court’s 1999 decision in NCAA v. Smith. Keeler’s attorneys argue instead that the association exercises controlling authority over federally funded schools’ athletic programs; the association disputes that theory and says it requires further factual development.
The association also noted that Keeler had not sought a hardship waiver related to varsity eligibility after her transfer. Its filing said that process concerns transfer eligibility, not the requested assurance about future matchups. The WIAA further argued that its rules on additional penalties for withdrawals apply to postseason competition, that such penalties are discretionary and that none has been imposed on Keeler. It asked to be excluded from any injunction or shielded from an order requiring changes to its participation rules.
The state also challenged the family’s parental-rights argument, contending that parents are not entitled to individualized rules for school athletics. Separately, officials cited a ballot measure Washington voters are scheduled to consider Nov. 3, Initiative IL26-638, which would bar students defined by the measure as biologically male from designated girls’ school sports and require healthcare providers to verify participants’ biological sex.
The filings refer to the Supreme Court’s recent West Virginia v. B.P.J. decision, which allowed sex-based restrictions while leaving unresolved whether Title IX bars schools from allowing transgender girls to compete on girls’ teams. Keeler’s attorney, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Hal Frampton, has said the family wants protection before the next wrestling season, expected to begin in mid-November, and has described the case as part of a broader effort to establish a protected female athletic category under Title IX.
