The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to reinstate a rule requiring U.S. passports to list a person’s biological sex at birth, not their gender identity. The 6–3 decision, split along ideological lines, overturns lower court rulings that had blocked the policy. Since 1992, Americans have been able to have their gender identity reflected on passports with a doctor’s certification of clinical treatment for transition. The new rule ends that option.
The court said, “Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented sharply. She said, “By preventing transgender Americans from obtaining gender-congruent passports, the Government is doing more than just making a statement… it invites the probing, and at times humiliating, additional scrutiny” during travel. Litigation on the policy’s legality continues in lower courts.
