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By WILL POTTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 00:05 BST, 19 April 2025 | Updated: 00:50 BST, 19 April 2025
A Joe Biden-appointed federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enacting a policy banning non-binary people from using an X on their passports to identify their gender. US District Judge Julia Kobick shot down the policy in court this week, siding with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in its lawsuit against one of President Trump’s first executive orders since retaking the White House. Trump’s executive order narrowed the definition of sexes over a broader conception of gender, and stipulated that a person is either male or female and cannot transition their gender. Kobick wrote in her ruling: ‘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.’ Kobick’s ruling approved the ACLU’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which stays the action while the lawsuit plays out. The ruling comes as how to legally approach transgender issues has moved into the spotlight in recent weeks, with conservatives lauding a decision in the UK Supreme Court this week ruling that trans women are not legally women. A Joe Biden-appointed federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enacting one of the first executive orders President Trump signed since retaking the White House Joe Biden-appointed federal judge Julia Kobick (pictured) blocked the Trump administration from enacting a policy banning non-binary people from using an X on their passports to identify their gender The ACLU sued the Trump administration’s transgender executive orders on behalf of five transgender Americans and two nonbinary plaintiffs. In their appeal that was heard this week by Kobick, the ACLU argued that the new policy would mean transgender and nonbinary Americans may not be able to get an accurate passport. ACLU lawyer Sruti Swaminathan argued: ‘We all have a right to accurate identity documents, and this policy invites harassment, discrimination, and violence against transgender Americans who can no longer obtain or renew a passport that matches who they are.’ The Trump administration countered that altering how a person can identify as nonbinary on their passport ‘does not violate the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution.’ They also argued that non-binary and transgender Americans who disagreed with their passport’s gender would not actually be harmed, as they are still free to travel abroad as they were before. The contention comes weeks after Trump also signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing against biological women. The ruling comes as how to legally approach transgender issues has moved into the spotlight in recent weeks. Pictured: Protestors in New York City for transgender day of visibility on March 31, 2025 After Trump signed the executive order on transgender athletes in sport, Maine became a surprising hotbed of controversy after the state’s Governor Janet Mills refused to comply. Mills got into a heated exchange with Trump at a White House event on February 21 where she told him she would see the president ‘in court,’ and said she would not abide by the executive order. She faced protests from her constituents over her opposition, where demonstrators lined the streets with signs criticizing the governor.
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Biden judge blocks hugely popular Trump transgender rule
