Orr v. Trump

The ACLU of Massachusetts, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Covington & Burling LLP filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Executive Order requiring all new passports to display an individual's biological sex at birth.

On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order attempting to mandate discrimination against transgender people across the federal government and government programs. This included a directive to the Departments of State and Homeland Security “to require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards” reflect their sex “at conception.” Under the ensuing Passport Policy, within 24 hours the State Department began holding some passports and other documents (such as birth certificates and court orders) submitted by transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people who had applied to update the sex designation on their U.S. passports and returning others with their applications rejected and their newly-issued passport marked with their sex assigned at birth.

The ACLU of Massachusetts, American Civil Liberties Union, and law firm Covington & Burling LLP filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven people who have not been able to obtain passports that match who they are because of the State Department’s new Passport Policy or are likely to be impacted by the new policy upon their next renewal.

The lawsuit argues the policy is arbitrary and capricious, violates the right to travel and right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and compels speech from transgender, nonbinary, and intersex passport holders in violation of their First Amendment rights.

“I thought that 18 years after transitioning, I would be able to live my life in safety and ease,” said Reid Solomon-Lane, a transgender man from western Massachusetts and plaintiff in this case. “Now, as a married father of three, Trump’s executive order and the ensuing passport policy have threatened that life of safety and ease. If my passport were to reflect a sex designation that is inconsistent with who I am, I would be forcibly outed every time I used my passport for travel or identification, causing potential harm to my safety and my family’s safety.”

For updates on this case, please refer to case documents and press releases below.