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The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with a policy that requires the sex designation on American passports to match an individual's sex assigned at birth. The decision puts a hold on a lower court ruling, permitting the government to enforce the new rule while legal challenges against it proceed.
This ruling effectively reverses a previous policy, established during the Biden administration, which allowed applicants to self-select their gender marker as male (M), female (F), or X for nonbinary and intersex individuals. The new measure is a significant setback for LGBTQ+ rights advocates, who argue the policy is discriminatory. The Supreme Court's order is not a final decision on the constitutionality of the policy but rather an emergency action that lifts an injunction that had blocked it.
The case reached the high court after the administration filed an emergency request, arguing that consistency in identification documents is a matter of national security and administrative uniformity. According to court filings cited by several news outlets, the administration stated, "Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth." This decision marks another significant win for President Donald Trump on what is known as the court's emergency or “shadow” docket, delivering a blow to transgender and nonbinary Americans who seek documentation that aligns with their gender identity.
Civil rights groups challenging the policy contend that it violates the constitutional rights of transgender and nonbinary citizens by forcing them to carry documents that do not reflect who they are, potentially exposing them to harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit over the policy's legality will continue in the lower courts, but for now, the administration is free to enforce a policy blocking transgender and nonbinary people from choosing their passport markers. The outcome underscores the ongoing legal and political battles over policies aimed at limiting transgender rights across the country.
