The Montana Supreme Court ruled 5-2 this week to uphold a preliminary injunction blocking a 2022 state policy that required Montanans to have birth certificates and driver’s licenses reflecting their biological sex. The ruling means Montana must now allow residents to amend identity documents to match their self-declared gender identity.
The case, Kalarchik v. State of Montana, was brought by the ACLU on behalf of two biological males who identify as female. The majority held that the state policy likely violates Montana’s Equal Protection Clause, asserting that “transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination.” The injunction remains in place as the case returns to lower courts for full deliberation.
Two justices dissented sharply. Justice Jim Rice wrote that the majority’s ruling forces the state to issue “falsified legal documents,” and pointed out that the court is disregarding what both the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts have recognized: gender identity claims do not constitute a protected class establishing a basis for sex discrimination. A spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen put it plainly: “Requiring the state to issue false documents simply doesn’t change the reality that men cannot become women, and women cannot become men.” The spokesperson added that the ruling would be more expected from California or Colorado than Montana.
Justice Rice is correct. A birth certificate and a driver’s license are legal documents that record biological fact. Montana’s citizens passed a policy rooted in biological reality, and a 5-2 court majority has overridden them. The case will continue, but the dissent here is the one grounded in law and reality.
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