Supreme Court Green Lights Trump Admin To Enforce Passport Sex Marker Policy
The Supreme Court on Thursday granted the Trump administration permission to enforce a policy that blocks transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers that align with their gender identity. The decision, issued in a brief, unsigned order, allows the policy to remain in effect while a lower-court lawsuit against it continues.
The conservative-majority court overturned a lower-court order that had required the government to continue allowing people to select male, female, or X gender markers on new or renewed passports to align with their identity. The court stated the policy is not discriminatory, arguing that displaying a passport holder’s sex at birth is merely “attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment.”
The court’s three liberal justices dissented, warning that the policy makes transgender people vulnerable to “increased violence, harassment, and discrimination.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the policy stemmed directly from a Trump executive order that described transgender identity as “false” and “corrosive.”
The administration had argued that enforcing the policy was necessary because passports fall within the realm of foreign affairs, an area where courts often defer to the executive branch.
The policy change followed a January executive order by President Trump, a Republican, declaring the United States would “recognize two sexes, male and female.” The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that being forced to carry documents that “out them against their will” increases the risk of harassment and violence.
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