US District Judge Julia Kobick in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction on Friday against President Donald Trump’s administration, finding that the administration’s passport policy is likely discriminatory against transgender and nonbinary individuals.

Judge Kobick stated:

The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny. That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.

She found that the government’s objective to maintain “a consistent definition of sex across the federal government” could not justify “the constitutionality of the Passport Policy.” She noted that a mere claim that a discriminatory policy is justified by an administrative convenience, such as a desire for uniformity in data, cannot suffice. Moreover, the government failed to adduce any evidence showing that varying definitions of sex across federal agencies caused any problems prior to the executive order.

Judge Kobick further held that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the passport policy is arbitrary and capricious and that it was implemented without adhering to the procedural requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. She added that the passport policy and the executive order “are part of a coordinated and rapid rollback of rights and protections previously afforded to transgender Americans,” prejudicing citizens whose gender identity does not align with their biological sex at birth.

The ACLU and Covington & Burling LLP filed the lawsuit against the Trump administration on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs in February. The lawsuit challenges Executive Order 14168, which was signed by Trump on January 20, and the US State Department’s revised passport policy in light of the order. The administration’s new policy prohibits the change of gender markers and the use of the “X” marker as a sex designation on transgender and nonbinary individuals’ passports.

Section 2 of the excutive order declared that “[i]t is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female,” with the terms “male” and “female” defined to mean those who, at conception, belong to the sex that produces the small and large reproductive cells, respectively.

In compliance with the executive order, the US State Department revised its passport policy to remove the option for Americans to obtain a passport with an “X” marker or a sex marker that differs from their biological sex at birth. Both options were permitted under the previous policy. 21 other US states have adopted similar policies concerning birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

There has been a surge in legal challenges to the executive orders Trump has signed during his second term, beginning in January 2025. Recently, US district courts have granted preliminary injunctions blocking parts of orders related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as the revocation of the legal status of 500,000 migrants. These rulings prompted the US House of Representatives to pass a bill restricting district courts’ injunction power against Trump’s executive orders.