The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to require that the sex designation on U.S. passports align with a traveler’s biological sex, a blow to transgender and nonbinary Americans who had argued the policy is unconstitutional.
The unsigned order marked another victory for President Donald Trump on the court’s emergency docket and another setback for LGBTQ rights at a time when the justices are weighing multiple cases involving transgender Americans, CNN reported.
“Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth – in both cases, the government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the court wrote.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a dissent joined by the court’s other two liberals.
“Such senseless sidestepping of the obvious equitable outcome has become an unfortunate pattern,” Jackson wrote. “This court has once again paved the way for the immediate infliction of injury without adequate justification.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the challenge, called the ruling a “heartbreaking setback for the freedom of all people to be themselves.”
“Forcing transgender people to carry passports that out them against their will increases the risk that they will face harassment and violence,” said Jon Davidson, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.
U.S. passports began including sex markers in 1976. The State Department later allowed applicants to change those markers with medical documentation in 1992, and in 2021 the Biden administration introduced an “X” gender option for nonbinary and intersex Americans.
Trump reversed both policies earlier this year, ordering that passports reflect sex assigned at birth and removing the “X” option.
A federal judge in Massachusetts had blocked the policy nationwide, ruling it classified applicants on the basis of sex and warranted heightened scrutiny.
The administration appealed, and after losing in the First Circuit, sought an emergency stay from the Supreme Court.
In its filing, the Justice Department argued that defining sex biologically “applies equally to each sex” and therefore does not constitute discrimination.
“Attorneys at @TheJusticeDept just secured our 24th victory at the Supreme Court’s emergency docket,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X. “Today’s stay allows the government to require citizens to list their biological sex on their passport. In other words: there are two sexes, and our attorneys will continue fighting for that simple truth.”
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly praised the decision as “a victory for common sense and President Trump, who was resoundingly elected to eliminate woke gender ideology from our federal government.”
It was the second major Supreme Court ruling this year allowing a Trump administration policy affecting transgender Americans to take effect. In May, the court permitted Trump to enforce a ban on transgender service members in the military.
Both decisions are temporary, pending the outcome of ongoing lower court litigation.
The Supreme Court has been busy hearing cases and issuing emergency decisions this term.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the path for the development of the Resolution Copper mine in Arizona, a project poised to bolster America’s economic strength and resource independence.
This move underscores the commitment of President Donald Trump and Republican leaders to prioritize national interests, economic growth, and energy security.
The court denied an appeal from Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group that said the religious rights of its members were being violated because Oak Flat would be destroyed if the copper mine went forward.
Oak Flat is where the San Carlos Apache tribe of Arizona worships. The mine was first approved in 2014 by former President Obama and was supported by President Trump in his first term, before it was reversed by former President Joe Biden.
