The Daily Fuckup

A federal judge in Boston expanded relief on June 17, 2025, in Orr v. Trump, giving a certified class of transgender and nonbinary plaintiffs broader protection against the Trump administration’s new passport sex-marker policy. The order did not reopen sex-marker choices for every passport applicant in the country. It applied to the class the court certified and required the State Department to keep issuing passports for covered people under the earlier policy, including the ability to request markers consistent with gender identity and, where applicable, an X marker. ([assets.aclu.org](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2025/06/Memo-and-Order-on-Plaintiffs-Motion-for-Class-Cert-and-Motion-to-Apply-PI-to-the-Classes-06.17.2025.pdf?utm_source=openai))

The dispute traces back to Executive Order 14168, signed on January 20, 2025, after which the State Department said it would no longer issue U.S. passports or Consular Reports of Birth Abroad with an X marker and would issue passports only with an M or F sex marker matching sex at birth. The department’s passport guidance now says that, because of the later Supreme Court stay in November 2025, it is again issuing passports reflecting sex at birth and will not honor attestation requests for a preferred sex marker. ([travel.state.gov](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/passport-help/sex-marker.html/n/?utm_source=openai))

In the June 17 order, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick granted class certification and preliminary injunctive relief tied to that class, rather than issuing a blanket nationwide ruling for all applicants. The practical effect was to preserve passport-processing rules for the people covered by the lawsuit while the merits of the challenge continue in court. ([assets.aclu.org](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2025/06/Memo-and-Order-on-Plaintiffs-Motion-for-Class-Cert-and-Motion-to-Apply-PI-to-the-Classes-06.17.2025.pdf?utm_source=openai))

The case is a narrow but important one: passports are core identity documents, and a sex marker that matches a person’s identity can matter for travel, verification, and day-to-day paperwork. For the plaintiffs in Orr v. Trump, the June 17 order kept their passport applications from being forced through the administration’s new restriction before the courts finish reviewing whether that policy can stand. ([assets.aclu.org](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2025/06/Memo-and-Order-on-Plaintiffs-Motion-for-Class-Cert-and-Motion-to-Apply-PI-to-the-Classes-06.17.2025.pdf?utm_source=openai))