Ninth Circuit lifts block on Arizona law requiring verification of sex change

The two-judge panel emphasized how transgender people who have not undergone sex change surgery can still amend their birth certificate through a court order, like any other Arizonan.(CN) — A two-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit unleashed a previously blocked Arizona law Tuesday requiring transgender people to submit a written statement from a doctor that they had a sex reassignment surgery in order to change their birth certificate.“The panel held that Arizona’s birth certificate amendment statute does not violate the equal protection clause,” U.S. Circuit Judge Roopali Desai, a Joe Biden appointee, wrote in a 26-page opinion.“Because the statute does not draw a legislative classification based on transgender status or any other suspect class, the panel applied rational basis review to plaintiffs’ facial challenge and held that it passes constitutional muster,” she wrote.The panel found that Senior U.S. District Judge James Soto, a Barack Obama appointee, improperly granted a permanent injunction removing any reference to a sex change “operation” from the statute. The appellate judges reversed the lower court’s summary judgment for the plaintiffs and remanded the case to the lower court for further proceedings.In 2020, a group of Arizona-based transgender people, including minors, filed a class action against the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services seeking the right to amend the sex marker on their birth certificates without undergoing a sex change operation. The plaintiffs claimed the statute requiring written verification violated their constitutional rights.Desai wrote that transgender people, regardless of if they have had a sex change operation or not, can change their sex marker on their birth certificate, under an Arizona amendment statute. Under the statute, a transgender person can amend their certificate by submitting a written request and verification by a physician of a sex change operation. Or if a transgender person has not undergone an operation, they can change their certificate by obtaining a court order, like anyone else who seeks an amendment to their certificate.“Plaintiffs allege that this scheme violates the equal protection clause and the due process clause because obtaining a court order is difficult and expensive,” wrote Desai. “We find no constitutional violation.”Desai said the statue does not discriminate based on transgender status but instead gives options for those seeking to alter the sex on their birth certificate.The panel heard oral arguments for the appeal on April 14 in Phoenix, with Rachel Berg with the National Center For LGBQT Rights representing the transgender appellees and Deputy Chief Counsel from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office Nathan Arrowsmith arguing for the state. Although Arizona authorities prevailed, Berg still celebrated the ruling as a win for transgender people in the state.“The Ninth Circuit’s opinion removes outdated, burdensome barriers that made it nearly impossible for many transgender Arizonans, particularly young people, to obtain an accurate birth certificate,” Berg said in an emailed statement to Courthouse News. “Today’s decision makes clear that the Arizona courts permit all transgender individuals to update their birth certificates without requiring a specific medical treatment."Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro filed to intervene as defendants to appeal the lower court’s permanent injunction against the surgery mandate.Desai wrote in detail how the intervenors’ interpretation of Arizona law, allowing anybody to obtain a court order to amend their certificates, was faulty.The Arizona Department of Health Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Andrew Hurwitz, a Barack Obama appointee, also sat on the panel.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads