A federal judge pushed President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday to justify why it could lawfully refuse to issue passports to transgender and nonbinary Americans that reflect their gender identities.

In response to the lawsuit, the Trump administration has argued the passport policy change “does not violate the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution.” They also contend that the president has broad discretion in setting passport policy and that plaintiffs would not be harmed by the policy, since they are still free to travel abroad.