A federal judge in Boston has slammed the brakes on a Trump administration policy that sought to restrict how transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans identify on their passports. In a sharp rebuke, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick declared the measure likely unconstitutional and expanded a previous ruling to protect people nationwide.
What began in April as a narrow injunction benefiting just six individuals has now grown into a full-fledged class action victory. The court’s new order prevents the U.S. Department of State from enforcing its restrictive passport policy across the board, striking down an executive directive that Judge Kobick said was likely based on “irrational prejudice.”
At the heart of the case is an order signed by Donald Trump after his return to the presidency in January. The directive forced federal agencies to recognize only two biologically defined sexes—male and female—and instructed the State Department to revise its rules accordingly. Under the updated policy, applicants had to declare the sex assigned at birth and were blocked from using gender markers like “X” or updating designations to match their lived identity.
For Kobick, that mandate went too far. “This is about uniform harm,” she wrote, emphasizing that the policy stripped entire groups of people—transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans—of the ability to obtain passports reflecting who they are.
Civil rights advocates welcomed the decision. “This is a critical victory against discrimination and for equal justice,” said Li Nowlin-Sohl of the ACLU, who represented the plaintiffs.
The White House, however, didn’t mince words. A spokesperson dismissed 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.”
Before Trump’s directive, State Department policy had long permitted updates to gender markers on passports. And under the Biden administration, applicants were given the option to choose “X” as a gender-neutral identifier alongside “M” or “F.” That brief window of inclusion now finds itself at the center of a broader legal battle over identity, bureaucracy, and power.
The courtroom fight is far from over, but for now, Kobick’s ruling restores a key measure of recognition to those the Trump policy tried to erase.
