In a significant legal development, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick has temporarily halted a Trump administration policy that barred transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans from receiving passports that reflect their gender identities. The ruling, issued Tuesday from Boston, expands an earlier preliminary injunction and grants class action status to the lawsuit, marking a key step forward in the broader legal battle against the administration’s ongoing rollback of transgender rights.
The lawsuit was filed by six individuals represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who challenged a State Department policy enacted under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump during his second term. That order, issued shortly after his return to office in January, mandated that all federal documents, including passports, reflect only one’s “biological sex at birth,” eliminating the option to self-identify as male, female, or nonbinary.
Judge Kobick, a Biden appointee, found that the policy likely violated the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by discriminating on the basis of sex and targeting transgender individuals with irrational prejudice. Her decision to expand the injunction to cover all transgender, nonbinary, and intersex passport applicants nationwide prevents the policy’s enforcement while the case proceeds through the courts.
“Granting class action status was appropriate,” Kobick wrote in her ruling, “given that the administration’s actions affected them uniformly by preventing them from obtaining passports with a sex marker consistent with their gender identity.”
The legal team for the plaintiffs celebrated the development as a meaningful, if temporary, victory. “This ruling is a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice under the law,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl, attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.
However, the Trump administration quickly condemned the decision. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly characterized the ruling as “yet another attempt by a rogue judge to thwart President Trump’s agenda and push radical gender ideology that defies biological truth.”
The passport policy is just one part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to eliminate recognition of transgender people under federal law. Since returning to office in 2025, Trump has issued a series of executive orders aiming to restrict LGBTQ+ rights, especially those of transgender individuals, by enforcing binary gender definitions across federal agencies.
Until recently, U.S. passport policy allowed applicants to update the gender marker on their documents based on self-identification. In 2022, the Biden administration expanded these options to include a gender-neutral “X” marker. Trump’s reversal of that policy has sparked outrage and fear within the transgender community and among civil rights advocates.
While Judge Kobick’s ruling provides temporary relief, advocates warn that it is not a permanent solution. The Trump administration has shown no signs of backing down and is expected to appeal the decision or seek other regulatory pathways to enforce its agenda.
For transgender Americans and their families, this ruling is a welcome reprieve in a hostile political climate, but it is far from the end of the fight. As the legal battle continues, many remain concerned about what future attacks on identity documentation, healthcare access, and civil rights may come next.
