Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a legal opinion stating that state district courts in Texas lack the authority to order government agencies to change the sex designation on identification documents, such as driver's licenses and birth certificates, if it is inconsistent with a person's biological sex.
The opinion was provided following a request from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). Attorney General Paxton clarified that agencies like DPS and the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) are not obligated to amend the biological sex on official documents based on orders from district courts. He further emphasized that any changes made under such non-legally binding judicial orders should be corrected.
“There are only two sexes, and that is determined not by feelings or ‘gender theory’ but by biology at conception,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Radical left-wing judges do not have jurisdiction to order agencies to violate the law nor do they have the authority to overrule reality. In Texas, we will follow common sense and restore any documents that were wrongfully changed to be consistent with biology.”
The opinion elaborates: “Directing these agencies to change the contents of driver’s licenses and birth certificates suspends the longstanding statutory directive that both agencies oversee the fixed contents of these documents.…The face of these orders instead reveals that DPS and DSHS are directed to violate the very statutes they are bound to obey.”
For those interested in reading more, access to the full legal opinion is available.