WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a policy blocking transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers that align with their gender identity.
The decision is Trump’s latest win on the court’s emergency docket, permitting the administration to enforce the policy while a lawsuit regarding it grinds on. This ruling halts a lower-court order requiring the government to allow individuals to select male, female, or X on their passport in alignment with their gender identity. The decision faced dissent from the Court’s three liberal justices.
In an unsigned order, the conservative-majority Court asserted that the policy does not constitute discrimination: “Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth,” it stated.
The court has sided with the government in several short-term orders addressing various policies since the commencement of Trump’s second term, including an earlier ruling barring transgender individuals from serving in the military.
The dissenting justices expressed concern that the policy exposes transgender individuals to increased vulnerability, including heightened risk of violence and discrimination. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson criticized the ruling, stating it facilitates “immediate injury without adequate justification.”
Transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs who contested the policy detailed experiences of being sexually assaulted and subjected to invasive security measures at airports because their passport gender markers did not match their presentation.
Despite concerns raised by the dissenters, the majority contended that enforcing the policy is crucial for foreign affairs, an area where courts typically defer to executive authority.
The policy’s roots trace back to a January executive order by Trump recognizing only two sexes based on birth certificates, a move that has drawn significant backlash from LGBTQ advocates. The legal battle over this policy underscores ongoing tensions related to transgender rights within the current judicial landscape.
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