Trump Administration Seeks Supreme Court Approval to Enforce Birth Sex Passport Policy Affecting Transgender, Nonbinary Individuals

The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and allow enforcement of its policy requiring passports to reflect an individual's biological sex at birth, effectively ending the option for transgender and nonbinary people to select gender markers such as "X" that align with their gender identity. This policy reverses the Biden administration's approach, which permitted self-selection of gender markers including "M," "F," or "X" on passports. The administration argues that passports represent government speech and foreign policy, thus the president has the constitutional authority to define sex based on immutable biological classification, asserting that the policy is lawful and necessary for security and accuracy. Opponents, including transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs represented by the ACLU, contend the policy is discriminatory and violates constitutional protections against sex discrimination, referencing lower court rulings that blocked the policy nationwide. The legal conflict highlights a broader partisan dispute over transgender rights, with lower courts citing precedents that protect transgender individuals from discrimination, while the administration cites recent Supreme Court cases as supportive of its stance. The Supreme Court's decision on whether to stay the lower court injunction will have significant implications for the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans regarding official identification documents.