Overview
- The unsigned 6-3 order pauses a nationwide injunction and allows the State Department to require male or female markers based on sex assigned at birth, ending the 'X' option for new and renewed passports.
- Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, warning of immediate harm to transgender, nonbinary and intersex applicants and disputing the need for emergency relief.
- The Court wrote that listing sex at birth is akin to listing country of birth and signaled the government is likely to prevail, citing foreign-affairs implications and irreparable injury absent a stay.
- The rule implements President Trump’s January executive order recognizing only two sexes; U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick had blocked the policy, and the First Circuit left her injunction in place before the stay.
- Existing passports that reflect a holder’s gender identity, including those with an 'X' marker, remain valid until expiration, but future applications will be processed under the birth-sex requirement as litigation continues.