Overview
- The 6–3 order lets the State Department require passport sex markers to match sex assigned at birth, with the three liberal justices dissenting.
- Thursday’s decision suspends a nationwide injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Massachusetts and does not resolve the case on the merits.
- The unsigned order says listing birth sex is akin to listing country of birth, describing it as attesting to a historical fact rather than imposing unequal treatment.
- Trump’s policy reverses Biden-era rules, eliminating the ‘X’ option introduced in 2021 for nonbinary and intersex applicants and ending self-identification for passport markers.
- Civil-rights groups including the ACLU warn of heightened risks of misidentification, harassment and violence for travelers, while the White House and DOJ defend the rule as lawful and uniformly applied.