Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Block Passport Gender Marker Ruling
The Justice Department argues the government can’t be required to use sex designations that it considers inaccurate on official documents. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
The Trump administration on Friday requested that the U.S. Supreme Court block a lower court ruling that allows transgender and nonbinary individuals to select their gender marker on passports, rather than being restricted to the sex listed on their birth certificate.
The ruling in question, issued in June by U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston, permits applicants to choose “male,” “female,” or “X” on their passports. The decision followed a lawsuit challenging a Trump-era executive order requiring passport gender markers to match the sex assigned at birth.
According to the Associated Press, plaintiffs in the case said some transgender individuals had their passport applications altered without consent, while others were discouraged from applying due to fear of rejection. Among them was transgender actor Hunter Schafer, who revealed earlier this year that her newly issued passport displayed a male gender marker, despite having female markers on her license and passport since her teens.
In its appeal, the Justice Department argued that individuals cannot compel the federal government to issue documents with what it called “inaccurate sex designations,” especially on official identification used for international purposes. “Private citizens cannot force the government to use inaccurate sex designations on identification documents that fail to reflect the person’s biological sex,” the department stated in its filing.
Judge Kobick, however, found the policy likely unconstitutional, saying it appeared to violate the Equal Protection Clause. She wrote that the rule was “rooted in irrational prejudice toward transgender Americans,” according to Reuters.
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