Overview

• The Justice Department on Friday filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to stay a lower-court order and allow enforcement of a policy requiring passport sex markers to match biological sex at birth, eliminating the “X” option.
• The request follows President Trump’s January executive order defining sex as an immutable biological classification and directing federal IDs, including passports, to reflect sex at birth.
• U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick blocked the policy for a certified class, finding likely irreparable harm and noting evidence that the policy targets transgender people, with passports frequently used for everyday identification beyond international travel.
• The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay Kobick’s injunction earlier this month, leaving it in place while appeals proceed, and the State Department has been processing applications consistent with the order.
• Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues the injunction compels government speech to foreign authorities and cites the Supreme Court’s Skrmetti ruling, while ACLU-backed plaintiffs assert violations of equal protection and federal administrative law.