Ninth Circuit confirms Arizona birth-certificate court-order route without surgery
In Roe v. Johnston, filed October 6, the Ninth Circuit confirmed that transgender people born in Arizona can obtain a court order to amend the sex marker on their birth certificates without undergoing surgery. The court said the state registrar must comply with such an order.
The panel also reversed the plaintiffs’ constitutional judgment, vacated the district court’s permanent injunction and remanded the case. It upheld the statutory scheme against the facial challenge because the court-order route exists. The administrative route requiring medical verification remains distinct.
The ruling clarifies an important route to accurate documents, while leaving people to navigate court proceedings. It does not establish a simple self-declaration process or guarantee that a particular petition will succeed.
Read the Ninth Circuit opinion; read the plaintiffs’ lawyers’ explanation.