A Biden Judge Cleared the NCAA and the Senate Rewarded Them the Same Day

October 2, 2026 Cat2, The Media
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Riley Gaines watched a biological male take her spot on the podium in 2022.

The federal government refused to do anything about it.

The Senate rewarded the NCAA on the same day a Biden judge killed Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against them.

The Ruling That Lets the NCAA Off the Hook

U.S. District Judge Tiffany R. Johnson – nominated to the federal bench by Joe Biden in 2024 – granted the NCAA's motion for summary judgment Monday, throwing out Gaines' Title IX lawsuit.

The reason she gave: the NCAA doesn't directly receive federal funding.

That's it.

The NCAA governs more than 1,100 colleges and universities – almost all of which are federally funded – and collects dues from every single one of them.

But Judge Johnson ruled that money flowing through member institutions doesn't count.

"Here, there is no evidence that the NCAA ever received, or could have received, federal funds," she wrote.

The case centered on the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at Georgia Tech, where Lia Thomas – a biological male – became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title.

Gaines, competing for Kentucky, tied Thomas for fifth in the 200-yard freestyle.

Female swimmers were also forced to share a locker room with Thomas during the same championships.

The Legal Shell Game the NCAA Just Won

Here's the scheme the NCAA ran – and the scheme Judge Johnson just blessed.

The case involved a concussion research partnership between the NCAA and the Department of Defense, both of which sent money to Indiana University.

A previous ruling had found the athletes plausibly alleged the NCAA received federal assistance through that arrangement.

Johnson reversed course after limited discovery – ruling the money reached Indiana University and other researchers directly, bypassing the NCAA entirely.

She also rejected the argument that the NCAA indirectly benefited through its control over entities that did receive federal money, or through employee travel reimbursements.

The ruling didn't even address whether the NCAA's transgender policy was sex discrimination.

Johnson didn't rule on right or wrong – she found a procedural exit and took it.

This is exactly what happens when Biden fills the federal bench with his people.

A ruling on a technicality that lets an organization running billion-dollar college athletics claim it's immune from civil rights law.

Congress Just Rewarded the NCAA Anyway

Here's where it gets worse.

The same day Judge Johnson handed the NCAA this win, the Senate passed the Protect College Sports Act by a 77-22 vote.

The bill now heads to the House.

The legislation would hand the NCAA sweeping new authority – a conditional antitrust exemption protecting it from federal and state liability while it sets the rules on athlete pay, transfers, recruiting, and agent oversight.

Marshi Smith, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS), immediately called on Congress to kill it.

"The NCAA's refusal to recognize its responsibility to uphold women's rights means the NCAA cannot be trusted to regulate anyone's sports – men's or women's," she said.

She's right.

An organization that just successfully argued in federal court that it isn't subject to Title IX is asking Congress for broad new authority over college athletics.

That's not a reform.

That's a reward.

What Comes Next

Gaines and ICONS have 30 days to file a notice of appeal with the 11th Circuit.

They're doing it.

"This momentary setback will not deter me or other women athletes in the least," Gaines said. "We are on the side of truth."

ICONS co-founder Kim Jones predicted the appeals court would reach the opposite conclusion.

"We believe the district judge erred and that the Court of Appeals will find that the NCAA – which is the controlling body of college sports for more than 1,100 member schools, almost all of which are federally funded – is subject to Title IX,” she said.

The Supreme Court's 1999 ruling in NCAA v. Smith established that the NCAA isn't subject to Title IX simply because it collects dues from member schools that receive federal funds.

That's the precedent Johnson relied on.

Think about what the NCAA just pulled off.

They spent decades building a massive empire on the backs of schools that can't operate without federal money – and then walked into federal court and said, with a straight face, that none of that money touched them.

And a Biden judge believed it.

The House hasn't voted on the Protect College Sports Act yet.

Call your congressman.

The NCAA just proved in court it doesn't think the rules apply to it.

Don't let Congress prove them right.

Sources:

  • Jackson Thompson, "Riley Gaines' lawsuit vs NCAA dismissed by Biden-appointed judge, appeal planned," OutKick, September 29, 2026.
  • Warner Todd Huston, "Biden Judge Dismisses Riley Gaines' Transgender Athlete Lawsuit Against NCAA," Breitbart, September 29, 2026.
  • Jackson Lewis, "Higher Burdens on NCAA Divisions: Protect College Sports Act Gets Closer to the Goal Line," JacksonLewis.com, September 2026.
  • Staff, "Key Legal Battles Shaping Title IX and Women's College Sports," Sports Illustrated/Vault, 2012.