Attorney General Labrador Secures Court Order Ending Yearslong Block on Idaho’s Birth Certificate Law

BOISE, ID - Attorney General Raúl Labrador announced today that a federal court agreed to dissolve a 2018 injunction that blocked Idaho from enforcing state law requiring birth certificates to accurately reflect biological sex at birth. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond E. Patricco granted Attorney General Labrador's motion, allowing Idaho's Department of Health and Welfare to enforce the policy for the first time since 2018.

In 2018, Idaho's birth certificate policy was challenged in federal court, and a federal judge issued an injunction forcing Idaho to process applications to change biological sex markers based on gender identity. Even after the Idaho Legislature codified the policy into law in 2020 and amended it in 2024, federal courts prevented enforcement.

Attorney General Labrador filed a motion to dissolve the injunction in October 2025, citing two 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decisions. In Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts cannot issue universal injunctions affecting people beyond the parties in a lawsuit. In United States v. Skrmetti, the Court ruled that laws like Idaho's do not discriminate based on transgender status because they apply equally to everyone.

"For years, Idaho was blocked from enforcing common-sense policy and law requiring birth certificates to reflect biological sex recorded at birth," said Attorney General Labrador."Birth certificates aren't symbolic documents that are subject to how an individual may feel, they're legal records used in medicine, public health research, and identification. Idaho can now enforce our law protecting accurate vital records, while treating all Idahoans equally under the same amendment process."

Idaho's law requires amendments to material facts recorded at birth to follow specific procedures. If requested within one year, individuals must provide a notarized affidavit declaring the information was incorrectly recorded. After one year, corrections require a court proceeding demonstrating fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact. This process applies equally to all Idahoans seeking to amend any biological fact on their birth certificate. The parties filed a joint stipulation agreeing to dissolve the injunction, which Judge Patricco ordered on January 8, 2026.

Read our memo in support of the motion to dissolve here.

Read the federal court's order here.