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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Gender markers on passports

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States v. Ashton Orr

Granted
No. 25A319Stay applicationFiled by the federal governmentPresented to Justice JacksonFrom United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court granted the request on November 6, 2025: the lower court's ruling is on hold while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Jackson, Justice Kagan, and Justice Sotomayor would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 48 days after filing

What's being asked

The federal government, including President Donald Trump and the State Department, asks the Supreme Court to pause a lower-court order blocking its passport policy. The policy requires new passports to display a person's biological sex at birth. Ashton Orr and other challengers contest the policy; the government argues it is lawful.

What the Court did

The Court gave emergency help, putting the June 17 Massachusetts district court order on hold (staying it); it did not decide who wins. The pause lasts through the First Circuit appeal and any timely petition for Supreme Court review. Justice Jackson dissented (disagreed with the result), and Justices Kagan and Sotomayor signed on to her dissent; no vote tally was published.

  • Dissented
  • Wrote separately
  • Vote not published
Dissenting · 3recorded against the Court's order
  1. Sotomayorjoined Jackson's writing
  2. Kaganjoined Jackson's writing
  3. Jacksonwrote a dissent
Vote not published · 6the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Gorsuch
  5. Kavanaugh
  6. Barrett
The order records the positions of 3 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Half of 82 rulings on applications where the Court asked for a response came 10 to 26 days after filing, and the median was 17 days; this one was ruled on 48 days after filing.

What it means

The appeal continues in the First Circuit; no related Supreme Court case is listed, and no argument date was set for this application.

Separate writings

  • Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Kagan and Justice Sotomayor, dissenting

    Read (PDF)

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A319. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 8, 2026