The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration’s policy requiring U.S. passports to reflect a person’s biological sex at birth, marking another legal triumph for the former president. The decision allows the government to enforce a binary gender classification—male or female—on passports, rejecting challenges from transgender and nonbinary individuals who argued the rule violates constitutional protections.
The unsigned court order stated that requiring passport holders to display their sex at birth does not constitute unconstitutional discrimination, comparing it to the inclusion of a country of birth on documents. “The government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the ruling asserted.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, appointed by former President Joe Biden, dissented in the case, joined by the court’s liberal justices. She criticized the majority for ignoring equitable solutions and enabling harm to transgender individuals. “This court has once again paved the way for the immediate infliction of injury without adequate justification,” she wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the decision as a setback for LGBTQ+ rights, arguing it forces transgender people to carry documents that may expose their gender identity, increasing risks of harassment and violence. The policy, which dates back to 1976, was expanded under President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021 to include an “X” gender marker for nonbinary and intersex individuals.
The ruling represents the 24th Supreme Court victory for Trump during his short tenure in office, reinforcing his administration’s approach to what it describes as “basic sanity” in policy implementation.