“We Don’t Answer To Courts”: Trump Admin Refuses Compliance With Trans Passport Court Order 🔗
by Erin Reed on .
[There have been] multiple instances in which passport offices have refused to process gender marker updates for transgender applicants despite the court ruling. At one office in Vermont, officials told a transgender applicant there was “nothing they could do” until further guidance was issued. In Seattle, agents were reportedly instructed to “neither approve nor deny” such requests, effectively placing them on indefinite hold. A passport office in New Hampshire allegedly told an applicant, “We are not intending to comply with the injunction. We have been told to only follow the President’s Executive Order, unless the Supreme Court directs otherwise.” In San Francisco, a supervisor reportedly responded to a question about following the court order by saying, “We don’t answer to courts.” When the applicant asked, “You’re telling me you don’t have to follow the law?” the supervisor replied, “We don’t.”