Overview
- The conservative-majority Court ended the stays on Nov. 6, with three progressive justices dissenting after lower courts paused the policy in June and September.
- The State Department can now stop issuing passports that list gender 'X' or a gender different from the holder’s sex recorded at birth.
- The Court said listing sex at birth does not breach equal-protection principles, likening it to displaying country of birth as an attested fact.
- President Trump’s Jan. 20 directive recognized only two sexes defined at birth, reversing the 2021 introduction of an optional 'X' marker.
- The ACLU criticized the move as harmful to transgender and non-binary people, as related rollbacks proceed, including a temporary green light to exclude transgender people from the military and an upcoming case on female sports eligibility.