Montana Supreme Court Blocks State's Anti-Trans ID Policyhttps://www.them.us/story/montana-supreme-court-ruling-transgender-discrimination-case 🔗Mathew Rodriguez (16 April 2026)
The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that two state agencies violated the state constitution by not allowing trans residents to change their gender markers on identity documents, per the Daily Montanan.
In a 5-2 decision, the court blocked the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, as well as the Department of Justice, which runs the state's Motor Vehicle Division, from refusing to update trans people's identity documents, siding with two trans plaintiffs.
A District Court first blocked Montana from enforcing the policy in 2024, per a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union. The decision, rendered Wednesday, upheld that injunction and recognized that "[t]ransgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination" and that the policy treated trans people unequally in comparison to cis people.
In its finding that anti-trans discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, the Montana Supreme Court has reinforced the U.S. Supreme Court's 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found in a 6-3 decision that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity was a form of sex-based discrimination.
"I am deeply grateful and encouraged by the Montana Supreme Court's decision to uphold the injunction," plaintiff Jessica Kalarchik said in a statement to the ACLU. "This victory represents not only a personal milestone, but also a meaningful affirmation of fairness, justice and the rule of law."
