Trump admin says transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs in passport marker case are trying to 'escape the consequences of

Source: Law & Crime

Dec 24th, 2025, 4:05 pm


The Trump administration is imploring a federal district court not to move too quickly in a lawsuit over the policy changing the sex marker designations on U.S. passports for transgender and nonbinary people. In February, a group of individuals represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the government for upending the previous policy allowing preferred gender identity on passports, a policy that had been in place for 33 years. The lower courts have repeatedly ruled in the plaintiffs' favor.

In April, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick, a Joe Biden appointee, first issued an order blocking the change. Then, following the high court's landmark ruling limiting the reach of national injunctions — and an intervening amended complaint — the court certified the plaintiffs as a class and issued the injunction at issue. In July, the judge declined to stay her ruling as the government appealed. In September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit refused to stay the injunction.

But all that came to a head in November, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a shadow docket ruling that stayed Kobick's injunction. On Dec. 9, the plaintiffs essayed a different path. "Plaintiffs intend to seek an indicative ruling from this Court that it would dissolve the preliminary injunction if it were remanded; if this Court issued an indicative ruling that it would dissolve the preliminary injunction, Plaintiffs would then seek remand from the First Circuit," their motion reads. "That would provide Plaintiffs and the Classes the fastest route to final judgment and the chance for permanent relief."

In other words, the plaintiffs want Kobick to move past the injunction battle and to discovery, which was paused during the injunction, and ultimately resolve the case on the merits. But, the plaintiffs say, the current procedural posture has them stuck. A Christmas Eve filing by the U.S. Department of Justice says such an expeditious path forward would be inherently unfair.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/procedural-chicanery-trump-admin-says-transgender-and-nonbinary-plaintiffs-in-passport-marker-case-are-trying-to-escape-the-consequences-of-their-litigation-strategy/