Judge Temporarily Halts Trump Administration’s Gender Policy on U.S. Passports
A federal judge appointed by ex-President Joe Biden issued a nationwide injunction Tuesday against a Trump administration policy restricting U.S. passport gender options to “male” and “female” only, temporarily reinstating the previously available nonbinary “X” designation.
Judge Julia Kobick of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled that the plaintiffs in the case—six individuals who sued in April—are likely to succeed in their legal challenge. The Trump-era policy was enacted under an executive order requiring all federal agencies to recognize only two sexes: male and female.
The administration’s position had resulted in the elimination of the “X” gender option on passport applications and restricted applicants from selecting a gender marker inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.
In April, Judge Kobick temporarily blocked enforcement of the policy for the original plaintiffs. Her Tuesday decision broadens the suspension to apply nationwide.
In her ruling, Kobick wrote that the new policy appears “arbitrary and capricious,” lacks a sound legal basis, and is likely discriminatory under existing protections against sex-based discrimination.
The challenged policy stems from a Trump executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The order directs agencies to define sex strictly as biologically male or female and asserts that “these sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”
The administration’s legal defense argues that the removal of the “X” marker and strict binary definitions serve important government interests in consistency and biological accuracy. The order also states that “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being.”
Judge Kobick, however, found that the administration had not provided sufficient justification to support the policy change under constitutional scrutiny.
With input from Fox News.
