Supreme Court Rules Trump Administration Can Require Passports To List Americans’ Birth Sex
The Supreme Court on Thursday handed President Donald Trump a major victory, ruling that his administration can require all U.S. passports to list a person’s sex at birth and eliminate “X” or transgender designations.
In an unsigned order, the Court halted two lower?court decisions that had blocked Trump’s Day One executive order declaring that “the policy of the United States [is] to recognize two sexes, male and female.” The ruling allows the administration to begin enforcing the policy immediately.
“Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth,” the Court wrote. “In both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment.”
The Court’s three liberal justices — Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor — dissented. Jackson accused the majority of ignoring the hardships faced by the plaintiffs.
“The Government seeks to enforce a questionably legal new policy immediately, but it offers no evidence that it will suffer any harm if it is temporarily enjoined,” Jackson wrote. She argued that transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs would face “imminent, concrete injury” if forced to carry passports that list sex markers that don’t match their gender identity.
Before Trump’s executive order, the State Department allowed applicants to choose “M,” “F,” or “X,” regardless of biological sex. The Biden administration loosened requirements further in 2021, allowing people to self-select their sex marker without any medical documentation.
That policy was reversed shortly after Trump took office for his second term, reinstating the federal government’s recognition of only two biological sexes.
A federal district judge blocked the administration from enforcing the rule in June, and a three?judge panel on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — all Biden appointees — upheld the injunction in September. The Supreme Court’s action on Thursday effectively overrides both rulings while litigation continues.
The plaintiffs have argued that being forced to travel abroad with passports listing their birth sex could make them targets of harassment or violence. The administration counters that the government must maintain consistent, verifiable identity markers for national security and document integrity.
With the Supreme Court’s order now in effect, the State Department can immediately begin issuing passports that reflect sex at birth — a significant policy shift that will impact millions of current and future American travelers.