SCOTUS Allows the Trump Administration to Enforce Two-Gender Passport Policy

The 6-3 ruling is a massive blow to transgender rights advocates, who have argued the policy is unconstitutional, and a setback for LGBTQ+ rights.

Authority of Law statue in front of the Supreme Court.

Mark Alfred/NOTUS

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to require that sexual markers on U.S. passports align with the traveler’s biological sex — effectively eliminating a Biden-era policy that allowed citizens to choose an ‘X’ marker denoting their nonbinary identity.

The 6-3 ruling is a massive blow to transgender rights advocates, who have argued the policy is unconstitutional, and a setback for LGBTQ+ rights.

“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 said in a four-paragraph opinion.