Overview

• Judge Julia Kobick expanded her April injunction to certify a class action covering every transgender, nonbinary and intersex American who wants a new, renewed or updated passport.
• The preliminary injunction bars enforcement of President Trump’s January executive order that limited passport sex markers to a person’s biological sex at birth.
• Under Kobick’s order, the State Department must resume processing applications and allow applicants to choose M, F or X markers consistent with their gender identity.
• The judge determined the policy likely violates the constitutional right to equal protection by forcing people to present passports with sex markers that contradict their identities.
• The nationwide injunction remains in effect while the broader lawsuit proceeds and the State Department’s appeal is pending.