For now, Supreme Court OKs policy requiring “sex at birth” on passports
Fast Facts
The Supreme Court said the Trump administration can require all U.S. passports to show the sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, not their gender identity.
The decision also ends the option for an “X” gender marker on passports.
The ruling is temporary - the case will keep moving through the lower courts.
The Story
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to begin enforcing a rule that affects transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people who need passports.
For more than 30 years, people have been able to get passports that show their gender identity. In 2021, under President Biden, the State Department made it easier by removing the requirement for medical paperwork and adding an “X” option for those who don’t identify as male or female.
President Trump reversed that policy on his first day back in office in 2025. Soon after, many passport applications from transgender and nonbinary people were delayed or denied.
The Supreme Court’s 6–3 ruling today said the government is only listing “a historical fact” by showing sex at birth and is likely to win the case. But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed. In her dissent, she wrote that the rule causes “real harm” and unfair treatment, especially for people who may face extra questioning or danger when traveling.
The Supreme Court’s decision is not the final word on the case. It pauses earlier court decisions that had blocked the policy from being enforced while the case, Orr v. Trump, continues in the lower courts. The ACLU and its partners say they will keep fighting in court to overturn the policy.
For now, anyone applying for a new, corrected, or renewed passport will receive one that lists the sex shown on their birth certificate.
What You Can Do
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