Federal Judge Blocks State Department’s Ban on “X” Passports
Judge’s order blocks State Department from rejecting passport applications with gender markers matching applicants’ gender identities.
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a directive from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that prohibits transgender and nonbinary individuals from obtaining passports reflecting their gender identities.
Rubio’s directive, issued in January, had instructed State Department staff to freeze all applications for passports with “X” gender markers or applications requesting changes to gender markers on existing passports.
Rubio also directed his subordinate to enforce a section of the Immigration and Nationalist Act that allows the United States to refuse entry to any visa applicant who commits identity fraud or misrepresents who they are, with particular focus on transgender athletes from foreign countries.
“The policy of the United States is that an individual’s sex is not changeable,” Rubio’s directive read. He also ordered that the gender marker on an individual’s passport, and on other official documents, be based on a person’s assigned sex at birth.
The directive aligns with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump declaring that the U.S. government will only recognize two sexes — male and female, based on biological characteristics as observed at birth — as valid, and thus, will only accept passports or official State Department documents bearing male or female gender markers. Trump’s order also declares that gender cannot be changed through medical interventions.
In addition to blocking enforcement of the passport policy, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, of the District of Massachusetts, also granted class certification to an expanded number of plaintiffs who would be affected by the passport policy.
Kobick previously issued a preliminary injunction in April blocking the State Department from rejecting the applications of six transgender and nonbinary Americans who sued the Trump administration, seeking to amend the gender markers on the passport.
But in her June 17 ruling, she expanded the number of people who could challenge State Department policy to include a class of transgender people seeking to amend their gender marker to “M” or F” to align with their gender identity, and to a separate class of people seeking a passport with a gender-neutral “X” designation, reports Chris Geidner, writing for his Law Dork legal news website.
Kobick also ordered Rubio, his subordinates, the State Department, and its employees, to process and issue passports — as would have been allowed on January, 19, 2025, prior to Trump taking office — to those individuals reflecting their requested gender markers.
Kobick’s order also set forth conditions allowing the State Department to ask for additional information, if it feels it is necessary to request additional information to determine if an applicant belongs to the class covered by the injunction.
Her order took effect immediately, and currently remains in place.
The Trump administration, which previously filed an appeal of the individual preliminary injunction, is expected to appeal Kobick’s latest order as well. If their appeal is granted, either by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, or by the Supreme Court, the policy can continue to be enforced while the case works its way through the courts. Otherwise, the Department will be blocked from rejecting transgender individuals’ applications.
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