The Montana Supreme Court ruled that state agencies cannot prohibit transgender residents from changing their government-identification documents to fit their preferred gender identity. “Transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination,” Montana Supreme Court Justice Laurie McKinnon wrote on behalf of the majority, according to Courthouse News Service. “Discrimination based on sex is expressly prohibited under Montana’s unique nondiscrimination clause,” McKinnon added. However, the dissenting justices accused the majority of issuing a political decision. “The majority today has blown through all of these prudential instructions to issue a political decision dressed up in constitutional garb,” Chief Justice Cory Swanson wrote in his dissent, according to the Daily Montanan. “Now that we have spoken from the judicial mountaintop, where is the incentive toward continued public debate, mutual respect, and accommodation? Each side is in fact incentivized to stake out maximalist positions and then rush to the courthouse so the least democratic branch can settle political disputes better left to policy makers,” Swanson added. In its divided ruling, the court blocked the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice, which operates the Motor Vehicle Division, from refusing to update identification documents to match a resident’s preferred gender identity. BREAKING: The Montana Supreme Court ruled that it’s "Transgender discrimination" to require that a person’s birth certificate match their biological sex. pic.twitter.com/IKerLmk0qc — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 20, 2026 Courthouse News Service explained further: Enacted in 2023 by the Montana Legislature, Senate Bill 458 defined “sex” as binary and based on the biological and genetic indications present at birth. Shortly after it went into effect, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would stop amending birth certificates based on “gender transition, gender identity or change of gender.” In 2024, two transgender Montanans sued the state, arguing the policies violate the state Constitution. Specifically, the plaintiffs requested that they be able to amend the sex designation on their birth certificate and driver’s license as permitted under the state’s previous policy. At the end of the year, a lower court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state from enforcing the policies. The court found that cisgender and transgender residents are equivalent in all relevant respects other than their status as transgender or cisgender, but only cisgender Montanans can amend their birth certificates or driver’s licenses to accurately reflect their gender identity, which violates the constitutional right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex. The state appealed, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the claim and that the lower court abused its discretion by blocking the policies. The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the state’s arguments. In addition to Justice Laurie McKinnon, the majority opinion included Justices Katherine Bidegaray, Ingrid Gustafson, and James Jeremiah Shea. Altogether, the court ruled 5-2 to reject the state’s arguments. BREAKING In a 5–2 ruling, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a preliminary injunction allowing transgender Montanans to amend their birth certificates and driver’s licenses to match their gender identity. pic.twitter.com/crAp6RAXQ8 — The Political HQ (@ThePoliticalHQ) April 15, 2026 More from the Daily Montanan: Justice Beth Baker wrote a concurring opinion, while Swanson wrote a separate dissenting opinion, as did Justice Jim Rice, for a split 5-to-2 decision — demonstrating just how divisive and sensitive the issue has become. One of the members of the lawsuit, identified just as “Jane Doe,” said that law enforcement officers had detained her in Montana because they were uncertain of her identity because her driver’s license identified her as a male, when she presented as a female. The court’s majority opinion said that Menahan correctly halted the law, and the plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, had their constitutional rights to equal protection violated, largely because the state constitution grants even more protections than the federal constitution. The majority said that Menahan had also correctly reasoned “cisgender and transgender Montanans are equivalent in all relevant respects other than their status as transgender or cisgender except that only cisgender, and not transgender Montanans can obtain amended birth certificates and driver’s license accurately reflecting their gender identity.” The majority said that the law forces transgender residents to disclose personal and private information about their gender identity in a way that cisgender residents do not have to, which violates the state constitution. “(The) plaintiffs alleged and demonstrated concrete, particularized injuries traceable to the state policies. Each time that Ms. Doe or Ms. Kalarchik must present their identifying documents to another person — during a traffic stop, to vote, to apply for employment, or to board a plane — they must disclose they are transgender,” the opinion said. “They must carry and produce a government issued document that does not reflect who they believe they are. “It is the state’s policies that cause plaintiffs to suffer these real and repeated injuries.”