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Supreme Court Allows Trump to Impose Anti-Trans Passport Policy
“This decision will cause immediate, widespread, and irreparable harm to all those who are being denied accurate identity documents,” said a lawyer for the ACLU.
Nov 06, 2025
The US Supreme Court issued an emergency order Thursday upholding President Donald Trump's discriminatory policy barring transgender and nonbinary Americans from changing the gender listed on their passports from the gender assigned to them at birth.
Reversing a lower court decision blocking the policy in June, the six conservative justices assessed in an unsigned majority opinion that by requiring passports to reflect a person's sex at birth, the State Department "is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment."
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the dissent, which was joined by the two other liberals, Justices Elena Kagan and Sonya Sotomayor. Lamenting the Trump administration's "routine" reliance on the court to issue emergency rulings, Brown wrote that she would have denied the request, because “the documented real-world harms to these plaintiffs obviously outweigh the government’s unexplained (and inexplicable) interest in immediate implementation of the passport policy.”
Last month, a group of transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, requested that the court reject the Trump administration's petition for a stay on the lower court's ruling blocking the policy. That ruling had come after transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs testified that they were afraid to submit passport applications to the government as a result of the policy.
"Forcing transgender people to carry passports that out them against their will increases the risk that they will face harassment and violence and adds to the considerable barriers they already face in securing freedom, safety, and acceptance," said Jon Davidson, senior counsel for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.
The attorneys argued last month before the Supreme Court that the policy "irrationally undermines the very purpose of passports—identifying a US citizen when they travel” and also is “motivated by anti-transgender animus.”
That animus has been on display since Trump's first day in office this term, when he signed an executive order declaring that his administration would only recognize “two sexes, male and female," based on one's “biological classification” at birth.
The passport policy has already led to confusion, which the actress Hunter Schafer—a transgender woman—put on display in February, when she was issued a passport that identified her as male in conflict with both her appearance and other legal documents like her driver's license.
“This decision will cause immediate, widespread, and irreparable harm to all those who are being denied accurate identity documents,” said Jessie Rossman, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, following the Supreme Court's ruling Thursday. “The Trump administration's policy is an unlawful attempt to dehumanize, humiliate, and endanger transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans, and we will continue to seek its ultimate reversal in the courts.”
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What Graham Platner Said When a Trans Mainer Asked: 'Will You Stand Up for Me?'
“I believe that you are a better person than you once were because I am a better person than I once was," said the potential voter at a campaign stop.
Oct 29, 2025
In an exchange that went viral on social media Tuesday, US Senate candidate Graham Platner offered reassurance to a transgender Mainer who asked whether he would "fight" alongside her and other LGBTQ+ people in the face of attacks from the right.
The woman, identified as Sami, asked Platner at a packed campaign event in Damariscotta, Maine: "If I stand with you, will you fight with me? Will you stand up for me?"
Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer who launched his Democratic primary campaign in August in hopes of ultimately challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for her seat in 2026, answered that he firmly believes "that every single American has the right to live the life they want to live in their own body as they see fit," and emphasized what he views as his "responsibility" as a straight, white, cisgender male, to defend the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
"I get to put myself out there in ways that other people don’t," said Platner. "I'm doing this because I know that I can say things, I know that I can have conversations, I know that I can knock on doors in places that a lot of other people can't have access to, that a lot of other people won't feel safe in."
"Yes, I will absolutely stand next to you, and if we ever have to go knock doors together, I'm happy to stand by your side," he added.
"If I stand with you, will you fight with me? Will you stand up for me?"
My answer: pic.twitter.com/PAIQOrT9nz
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) October 28, 2025
Sami's question came after Platner's campaign garnered national attention over deleted Reddit posts from his past, in which he used the word "gay" in a derogatory way and made other offensive comments, and a skull tattoo he got while in the Marines that some said resembled a Nazi symbol.
Platner has said he wasn't aware of the resemblance and had the tattoo covered up with another image recently, and has apologized for the Reddit posts, saying at another crowded town hall last week that he "used to hold different opinions."
"I also grew," he said. "I met new people. I learned of other people’s experiences. I realized... that the more open I could be to listen to other people’s stories, the more open I was willing to be—to extend compassion and empathy to others.”
Sami referenced the controversy, telling Platner, "I believe that you are a better man than you once were in the past because I’m a better person than I was in the past."
Alex Seitz-Wald, deputy editor of the Midcoast Villager, said the exchange displayed how Platner is "getting people to forgive him," and spoke to Sami at the campaign event as she was "signing a volunteer form" to help the candidate's campaign.
Platner's response, said Sami, was "what I hoped to get."
"It's very easy for a lot of politicians to sweep us under the rug," she added.
President Donald Trump's attacks on LGBTQ+ rights hit transgender Maine residents earlier this year, with the White House threatening to cut federal funding to the state unless Gov. Janet Mills complied with his executive order using his administration's interpretation of Title IX to block transgender girls and women from competing as female athletes on school sports teams.
Trump agreed to halt the funding freeze after the state sued his administration.
Sami said she had been "really impressed" with Mills' fight against Trump. The governor announced her Senate run earlier this month after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on her to join the primary race.
"I voted for her for governor, but not for this," said Sami. "I don't think she has the ability to make change."
Platner's campaign has garnered attention not just for the recent controversies, but for his outspoken advocacy for working-class families and policy proposals like Medicare for All and a billionaire minimum tax, his conviction that "the oligarchy is the enemy," his statement that he would not support Schumer as the party's leader if he wins the Senate seat, and his unequivocal condemnation of US support for Israel's assault on Gaza.
At the campaign event in Damariscotta, Platner described himself as a "New Deal Democrat" and told the crowd of 700 people that "we cannot be tricked into pointing fingers left and right when the only direction to be pointing fingers is up.”
In recent days, numerous polls have shown Platner leading Mills by a wide margin in the primary race—while one survey found Mills five points ahead of him—and Maine voters have packed gymnasiums and theaters for his campaign events.
Seitz-Wald reported that at the event in Damariscotta on Monday, Platner fielded "eight questions from the audience, one on Reddit posts, none on tattoo."
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Trans Plaintiffs Call On Supreme Court to Reject Trump's 'Discriminatory' Passport Restrictions
"The administration’s attempts to deny that right to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people has no basis in law or policy," said one lawyer.
Oct 06, 2025
A group of transgender plaintiffs is calling on the US Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration's request to lift a judge's order blocking what they describe as a "discriminatory" passport policy.
The US State Department earlier this year announced that it would bar transgender Americans from changing the gender listed on their passports from the gender assigned to them at birth. Several transgender plaintiffs, represented by attorneys from the ACLU, quickly filed for an injunction against the policy, which was granted by a lower court and upheld by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.
In asking the Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration's request for a stay, the ACLU attorneys argue that the passport policy "irrationally undermines the very purpose of passports—identifying a US citizen when they travel" and also is "motivated by antitransgender animus."
The ACLU attorneys are asking for the injunction to be upheld so that transgender and nonbinary Americans can continue to either change the designated gender on their passports or receive a passport with a gender marked as "X."
Jessie Rossman, legal director at the ACLU of Massachusetts, said that the injunction should be upheld because the administration's policy would "cause immediate, irreparable harm" if it came into effect.
"Transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans rely on accurate identity documents to travel with safety, privacy, and dignity," Rossman said. "We are asking the Supreme Court to reject this request for a stay and preserve the injunction issued below so our clients will be spared profound disruption and distress while their case proceeds."
Li Nowlin-Sohl, staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ and HIV Project, urged the Supreme Court to follow the lead of the lower courts, which "made abundantly clear how discriminatory and baseless the State Department's new policy is and the harm it poses for hundreds of thousands of people like our clients."
"People across the country depend on identity documents that accurately reflect their identity—who they are in their workplaces, their schools, and their communities," Nowlin-Sohl emphasized. "The administration’s attempts to deny that right to transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people has no basis in law or policy, and we’ll continue to fight this policy until it is permanently defeated."
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