A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a Trump administration order barring transgender and nonbinary Americans from passports that reflect their gender identities.
The executive order, signed by President Donald Trump on his first day in office in January 2025, directed the State Department to no longer issue passports with anything other than a male or female designation. It reversed a policy from the Biden administration that allowed U.S. citizens to select their gender on their application form, and included an “X” for those who do not identify as either.
U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick initially granted a preliminary injunction back in April, but it applied only to six individuals who joined the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a lawsuit.
In Tuesday’s ruling, Kobick broadened the injunction to include transgender or nonbinary people who are currently without a valid passport, those whose passport is expiring within a year, and those who need to apply for a passport because theirs was lost or stolen or because they need to change their name or sex designation.
Kobick, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, said that the government failed to show that blocking its policy would cause it any constitutional injury. She also noted that the transgender and nonbinary people covered by the preliminary injunction, meanwhile, have shown that the policy violates their constitutional rights to equal protection.
