The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to allow it to require that passports reflect only a person’s sex, as listed on their original birth certificate.
A federal trial court judge in Massachusetts had earlier issued a block on a new Trump administration passport policy, temporarily stopping it from going into effect while an appeal moved through the courts.
“Private citizens cannot force the government to use inaccurate sex designations on identification documents that fail to reflect the person’s biological sex — especially not on identification documents that are government property and an exercise of the president’s constitutional and statutory power to communicate with foreign governments,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the emergency application.
The State Department first allowed transgender people to change their sex marker in the early 1990s if they provided evidence that they had undergone transition surgery. In 2022, the Biden administration issued a policy allowing passport applicants to choose “M,” “F” or “X” on their passports.
The State Department earlier this year adopted a policy requiring passports to reflect gender as listed on birth certificates after President Trump issued an executive order directing all government agencies to limit official recognition of transgender identity.
Mr. Sauer argued that the lower court block on the policy “injures the United States by compelling it to speak to foreign governments in contravention of both the president’s foreign policy and scientific reality.”
The Supreme Court has yet to call for a response in the case or set a briefing schedule.
In April, the trial court temporarily paused the policy for plaintiffs in the case, requiring the State Department to issue them passports with sex designations that matched their gender identity.
Lawyers in the case then asked the court to extend the pause on the policy to cover everyone who might be affected by it.
Abbie VanSickle covers the United States Supreme Court for The Times. She is a lawyer and has an extensive background in investigative reporting.
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