SCOTUS reinstates Trump transgender passport policy

The ruling comes after the Trump administration appealed a lower court order from September that allows transgender or nonbinary people to request a male, female, or “X” identification marker on their passports, rather than choosing their biological sex.

Published: November 6, 2025 3:39pm

Updated: November 6, 2025 3:48pm

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the State Department can ban transgender Americans from listing their gender identity on their passports for the time being.

The ruling comes after the Trump administration appealed a lower court order from September that allows transgender or nonbinary people to request a male, female, or “X” identification marker on their passports, rather than choosing their biological sex.

“Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the court wrote in its majority opinion.

The ruling was split 6-3, with Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissenting.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage. 

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