The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to reinstate its policy requiring that U.S. passports reflect the sex listed on an individual’s original birth certificate. The decision temporarily lifts a lower court’s injunction that had halted enforcement of the rule, pending full legal review in the lower courts.
The unsigned order did not specify the vote count, but it included reasoning that the government’s practice of listing a person’s sex at birth “no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth.” The ruling represents a significant legal win for President Trump in his second term and underscores the Supreme Court’s willingness to side with the administration on contested issues of identity and governance.
The case, Trump v. Orr, emerged after the president signed an executive order on his first day back in office directing federal agencies to align official documents with what he termed “biological truth.” The order reversed more inclusive policies adopted under the Biden administration, which had allowed applicants to self-select gender markers — including a gender-neutral “X.”
Dissent Voices Concern Over ‘Routine’ Emergency Appeals
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, issued a sharply worded dissent criticizing both the administration’s repeated use of emergency requests and the Court’s apparent willingness to grant them. “This Court misunderstands the assignment,” Justice Jackson wrote, warning that the ruling permits “documented real-world harms” to persist while providing “no compelling explanation” for the government’s urgency.
She accused the majority of offering an “obliging audience” for executive actions that reshape civil rights protections. The dissent argued that enforcing the birth-sex passport rule risks exposing transgender and nonbinary Americans to safety threats, harassment, and barriers to travel.
The ACLU, which represents the plaintiffs, condemned the ruling as “a heartbreaking setback for the freedom of all people to be themselves.” Jon Davidson, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said the decision “fuels discrimination by embedding the Trump administration’s ideological stance into federal identification policy.”
A Policy Decades in the Making — and Unmaking by Trump Administration
The State Department’s approach to gender markers has evolved significantly since the 1970s. Initially, passports did not include a sex field, but by the late 1970s, the department added one amid concerns over unisex fashion and identity verification. Under President Obama and then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the department loosened restrictions, allowing transgender applicants to change their listed sex with a doctor’s letter rather than proof of surgery.
In 2021, the first passport with a gender-neutral “X” marker was issued, followed by a 2022 policy allowing self-identification regardless of medical documentation. The Trump administration’s reversal marks a return to earlier standards, effectively erasing a decade of progressive change.
The lawsuit filed by the ACLU challenges the policy as unconstitutional, citing violations of the right to privacy, the right to travel, and equal protection under the law. Plaintiffs argue that forcing citizens to accept a gender designation inconsistent with their identity compels speech and reinforces stigmatization. With the Supreme Court’s intervention, enforcement of the new passport policy can begin immediately while the broader legal battle continues.
