Appeals Court Rules Transgender people can obtain a passport

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: Pexels

The First Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 4, 2025, ruled against Donald Trump keeping in place an injunction allowing transgender people the right to obtain passports that align with their gender identity.

In April, District Court Judge Julia Kobick granted a preliminary injunction requiring the State Department to allow six transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs in Orr v. Trump to obtain passports with sex designations consistent with their gender identity or with an “X” sex designation while the lawsuit proceeds.

Then, in June, Judge Kobick certified two classes of passport holders and expanded the preliminary injunction to include any class member applying to:

Obtain a new passport,

Change the sex designation or update their name on their current passport

Replace a lost, stolen, or damaged passport, or

Renew their passport within one year of its expiration.

This includes those who, under the Trump administration’s policy, were previously sent a passport with a sex designation listing their sex assigned at birth.

Read more at the ACLU Press Release.