AI browsers are no longer just an idea; they’re already here. Microsoft has built Copilot into Edge, OpenAI is testing a sandboxed browser in agent mode and Perplexity’s Comet is one of the first to fully embrace the concept of browsing for you.

This is agentic AI stepping into our daily routines, from searching and reading to shopping and clicking. Instead of simply assisting us, these tools are beginning to replace us.

But with this shift comes a new era of digital deception. AI-powered browsers may promise convenience by handling shopping, emails and other tasks, yet research shows they can stumble into scams faster than humans ever could. This dangerous mix of speed and trust is what experts call Scamlexity, a complex, AI-driven scam landscape where your agent gets tricked, and you pay the price.

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Falling for the same old tricks

AI browsers are not immune to classic scams. In fact, they can fall for them even faster. When researchers at Guardio Labs told an AI browser to buy an Apple Watch, it confidently completed the purchase on a fake Walmart store set up in minutes. It autofilled personal and payment details without hesitation. The scammer got the money, while the human never saw the red flags.

Handling phishing emails from ‘your bank’

Old phishing tactics also remain effective. In testing, researchers at Guardio Labs sent a fake Wells Fargo email to the AI browser. The browser clicked the malicious link with no verification and even helped the user fill out login credentials on the phishing page. By removing human intuition from the loop, the AI created a perfect trust chain that scammers could exploit.

PromptFix: A modern AI injection scam

The real danger comes from attacks designed specifically for AI. Researchers at Guardio Labs created PromptFix, a scam disguised as a CAPTCHA page. While humans would only see a checkbox, the AI agent read hidden malicious instructions in the page code. Believing it was ‘helping,’ the AI clicked the button, triggering a download that could have been malware. This type of prompt injection bypasses human awareness and targets the AI’s decision-making directly. Once compromised, the AI can send emails, share files or execute harmful tasks without the user ever knowing.

The growing risks of AI browsers

As agentic AI becomes mainstream, scams will scale at an alarming speed. Instead of fooling millions of people individually, attackers need only to compromise one AI model to reach millions at once. Security experts warn this is a structural risk, not just a phishing problem.

Tips to protect yourself from AI browser scams

AI browsers can save time, but they can also put you at risk if you rely on them too much. Use these practical steps to stay in control and reduce your chances of becoming a victim.

1) Stay in control of your AI

Always double-check sensitive actions like purchases, downloads or logins. Keep final approval in your hands instead of letting the AI complete tasks on its own. This way, you prevent scammers from sneaking past your awareness.

2) Use a personal data removal service

Scammers rely on exposed personal details to make their tricks more convincing. A trusted data removal service can help scrub your information from broker sites, reducing the chance that your AI agent hands over details that are already floating around online. While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy. 

These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

3) Use strong antivirus software

Install and keep strong antivirus software updated. It adds an extra line of defense that can catch threats your AI browser may miss, including malicious files and unsafe downloads. The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.

Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.

4) Consider using a password manager

A trusted password manager helps you generate and store strong, unique passwords. It can also alert you if the AI agent tries to reuse weak or compromised passwords when logging into sites.

Next, see if your email has been exposed in past breaches. Our No. 1 password manager pick includes a built-in breach scanner that checks whether your email address or passwords have appeared in known leaks. If you discover a match, immediately change any reused passwords and secure those accounts with new, unique credentials. 

Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2025 at Cyberguy.com.

5) Watch your accounts closely

Review your bank and credit card statements often. If your AI agent shops or manages accounts for you, always cross-check receipts and login records. Quick action on suspicious charges can stop a scam from spreading further.

6) Beware of hidden AI instructions

Scammers hide malicious instructions in the code your AI reads, and the agent may follow them without question. If something feels wrong, stop the task and handle it manually.

Kurt’s key takeaways

AI browsers bring convenience, but they also bring risk. By removing human judgment from critical tasks, they expose a wider scam surface than ever before. Scamlexity is a wake-up call: The AI you trust could be tricked in ways you never see coming. Staying safe means staying alert and demanding stronger guardrails in every AI tool you use.

Would you trust an AI browser to handle your banking and shopping, or is the risk of Scamlexity too high? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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After facing intense criticism from Democrats during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, embattled FBI Director Kash Patel remained defiant, saying that he is ‘proud’ to lead the nation’s premier investigations agency.  

Speaking with reporters after the hearing, Patel, who was confirmed to the role by the Senate in late February, touted its historic recruiting efforts, saying that the agency ‘has the most applicants to become FBI agents and intel analysts in the history of the FBI.’

One of the major criticisms he received from Democratic senators during the hearing was for initially misstating on social media that conservative leader Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer was in custody.

Patel has conceded that he could have worded his social media post better, but that he does not regret it because he issued it in the name of transparency.

Speaking after the hearing, Patel added that ‘the American people are seeing and hearing what the FBI is doing on a daily basis, crushing violent crime and defending the homeland.’

‘So, I’m proud to be the director of the FBI that has seen the most significant, expansive application pool in history,’ he said.

In his opening statement to the committee, Patel listed a series of accomplishments the agency has achieved since President Donald Trump took office, including tens of thousands of arrests, a realignment of the agency and an emphasis on cracking down on illicit drugs.

Patel acknowledged the growing criticism over his direction of the FBI and challenged lawmakers on the panel to come after him, saying, ‘I’m not going anywhere’ and ‘if you want to criticize my 16 years of service, please bring it on.’ 

Patel was also scrutinized over a wave of firings at the FBI, which some have alleged were politically motivated.  

Ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., criticized Patel’s deference to Trump, saying the director ‘installed MAGA loyalists’ to key positions and initiated internal ‘loyalty tests,’ including polygraph tests. Durbin claimed that some FBI officials who failed those tests needed waivers to continue working at the bureau.

Durbin also noted that Patel has little experience working in law enforcement, calling his inexperience ‘staggering’ and accusing him of fast-tracking similarly unqualified recruits to fill the FBI’s open jobs.

Patel was also grilled by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, for requiring FBI field agents to perform push-ups as part of their physical fitness standards.

Hirono expressed concerns that female agents may be negatively impacted by the push-up requirement, saying, ‘There are concerns about whether or not being able to do these kinds of harsh pull-ups is really required of FBI agents.’

Patel responded, ‘If you want to chase down a bad guy, excuse me, and put him in handcuffs, you had better be able to do a pull-up.’

In a particularly tense exchange, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., drilled into Patel, saying, ‘I think you’re not going to be around long’ and ‘I think this might be your last oversight hearing, because as much as you supplicate yourself to the will of Donald Trump and not the Constitution of the United States of America, Donald Trump has shown us in his first term, and in this term, he is not loyal to people like you.’

Patel shot back that Booker’s ‘rant of false information does not bring this country together,’ before adding, ‘It’s my time, not yours.’

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr, Ashley Oliver and Alex Miller contributed to this report.

More than 100,000 heavy hearts are set to converge on Arizona’s State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., today to commemorate the life of Charlie Kirk — the fiery young activist who ignited fierce loyalty, sharp, yet civil debate, and whose shocking assassination has left a movement in mourning.

Those in attendance at Kirk’s service, which begins at 11 a.m. local time in Glendale, will hear from Republican political heavyweights including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, close allies, and family members who will pay tribute to the 31-year-old founder of Turning Point USA. 

Kirk’s widow, Erika, will speak about his legacy and her new role at the helm of the powerful national organization he built. The service is anticipated to be both a moment of mourning and a declaration of continuity, signaling how his movement intends to carry forward without its founder.

Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10 during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. The gathering was the first stop on TPUSA’s planned ‘American Comeback Tour,’ and, at first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. 

The charismatic Kirk, known for his signature debates on college campuses, sat beneath a white tent emblazoned with the slogan ‘Prove Me Wrong,’ taking open-mic questions from a crowd of thousands. Moments later, a single shot ended his life.

In the wake of his death, many Americans are learning for the first time of the unlikely rise of the young activist who vaulted from obscurity in suburban Illinois to become a defining voice for a generation of conservatives and one of the movement’s most formidable power brokers.

At 18, Kirk dropped out of community college to co-found Turning Point USA. By his mid-20s, he became the youngest speaker at the Republican National Convention in 2016 and a household name in conservative circles. By 31, he commanded a $95 million political empire, galvanized millions of followers online and established a direct line to Trump.

His death leaves behind an energetic movement that indisputably reshaped conservative youth politics.

With backing from Republican donors like Foster Friess, Kirk turned the scrappy campus operation into one of the fastest-growing conservative nonprofits in America. Today, it’s a political juggernaut — its revenue, according to tax filings, soared from just $2 million in 2015 to $85 million in 2024.

Add in revenue from its political action arm, Turning Point Action, and the haul climbs well above $95 million.

After his death, TPUSA has seen a massive surge in inquiries for new college chapters as the organization works to advance Kirk’s vision.

Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of ‘The Charlie Kirk Show,’ said the organization has received more than 54,000 requests to establish new campus chapters in the week since the assassination — a surge that would add to its existing network of 900 nationwide.

He also told Fox News Digital that he has ‘personally received hundreds of offers to work’ for TPUSA. 

Kirk’s widow, recently tapped to head the organization, vowed to carry on her husband’s mission in her first public comments since his death.

‘To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die,’ Kirk said on Sept. 12. ‘I refuse to let that happen. No one will ever forget my husband’s name. And I will make sure of it. It will become stronger. Bolder. Louder and greater than ever,’ she added.

Kirk said that TPUSA’s annual ‘AmericaFest’ conference in Phoenix this December will continue as scheduled.

NATO has been on high alert since Russia invaded Ukraine more than three and a half years ago, but a recent spike in the alliance’s airspace violations has security experts increasingly concerned that warnings of war with Moscow are no longer theoretical, but inevitable.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said the U.S. could ‘end up in World War III’ over Russia’s war in Ukraine and conceded that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ‘let him down’ over his refusal to end his military campaign. 

One day later, Russia sent three fighter jets over Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn in a direct and clear violation of its airspace, prompting another NATO member to spark Article 4 for the second time in as many weeks.

‘Russia is testing NATO again— dozens of drones in Poland last week, drones in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and now fighter jets in Estonian skies. These are deliberate provocations,’ Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told Fox News Digital. ‘They are deliberate tests—tests of our readiness, our resolve, and of the limits of our deterrence.’

Sakaliene said the Friday violation was just the latest in ‘an escalating pattern of pressure by Russia.’

‘For Estonia, for Poland, for Lithuania, for all of NATO’s eastern flank, this is a direct threat—not just to territorial integrity, but to citizen safety,’ she added.

The Lithuanian defense minister warned that the biggest line of defense NATO holds right now, apart from its actual military readiness, is showing a united front to dissuade Moscow from taking direct action against a NATO member and prompting what could become a global war. 

‘Our biggest risk currently is miscalculation by Russia,’ Sakaliene said. ‘Does Russia believe that NATO will not allow violations of its territory? Does Russia believe that Europe is going to strike back together with [the] United States?

‘That’s now the last line of defense between if and when [war with Russia happens],’ she added.

Concern over direct NATO conflict with Moscow escalated earlier this month after a swarm of at least 19 Russian drones not only flew over Polish airspace, but forced a multi-nation response when NATO, for the first time since the war began, fired upon Russian assets and brought down as many as four drones that posed a threat.

While Trump suggested that the drone swarm could have been a mistake, Poland refuted this and said it was ‘deliberate’ and a ‘planned provocation.’ 

Drone strikes have long been a favored wartime tool of Russia’s in its operation against Ukraine, with the number of strikes peaking in July with some 6,297 long-range drones fired across the country. 

That figure dipped to 4,216 drones fired in August. Though notably, the majority of those UAVs were fired between Aug. 16th and the 31st, when some 3,001 drones were deployed beginning the day after Trump met with Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15.

An American company, which sat less than 30 miles from two other NATO nations, Hungary and Slovakia, was also hit with ‘several’ cruise missiles in late August. 

‘The scope of air attacks from Russia to Ukraine is really rising. They are using more drones, more rockets, and they are still expected to rise,’ Sakaliene said.

‘We have to admit and adapt to this new reality. High intensity war by Russia against Ukraine is ongoing,’ the defense minister said. ‘That means that more and more UAVs are going to wander off into the territories of the bordering countries, and even further.’

Russia has increasingly turned to gray-zone tactics, which involve incidents that fall below the threshold of open warfare, but which allow Russia to test NATO’s resolve and response capabilities.

Over the last month, Poland saw three separate incidents in which its airspace was violated by Russian drones, including UAVs carrying explosive components that crossed into its airspace from both Ukraine and Belarus. 

Just three days after the drone swarm bombarded Polish air defense systems, a Russian drone crossed into Romanian airspace and prompted a French fighter jet and Polish helicopter to respond under NATO’s Operation Eastern Sentry – a defensive posture the alliance launched just one day prior. 

These events came after Lithuania in late July was forced to sound the alarm following two separate incidents in which Russian Gerber drones violated its borders, including one which was carrying explosives.

But these tactics are not the only threats that security experts in recent weeks have flagged as concerning behavior from Moscow. 

Earlier this month, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) based in Washington, D.C. drew attention to an op-ed published by former Russian president and current Security Council chair Dmitry Medvedev on Sept. 8 in the state-sponsored news outlet TASS, which used language that directly mirrored rhetoric by the Kremlin in the lead up to its invasion of Ukraine. 

In his article, Medvedev accused Finland of being ‘Russophobic’ and claimed, ‘the thirst for profit at the expense of Russia was installed in Finnish minds back in the days of Hitler.’ 

He further claimed that Helsinki has attempted to erase the ‘historical and cultural identity’ of ethnic Russians and said joined NATO under the ‘guise’ of defense, but in actuality, was covertly preparing for war against Russia, reported the ISW.

Medvedev’s comments were not stand-alone threats. Multiple Kremlin officials, including Putin who said ‘there will be problems’ after Finland joined NATO, have claimed the alliance will use Finland as a ‘springboard’ to attack Russia. 

‘Russia has been steadily setting conditions to attack NATO over the past several years: Moscow is standing up new divisions and optimizing its command and control headquarters on NATO’s eastern flank,’ George Barros, Senior Russia Analyst with ISW told Fox News Digital. ‘The Kremlin information warfare apparatus is fabricating claims and justifications for why Finland, the Baltic States, and Poland are not real countries. 

‘These are the prerequisite preparations for future war that Moscow is preparing,’ he warned. 

Sakaliene echoed these concerns and additionally pointed to Russia’s use of ‘soft power,’ often employed through social media and traditional media, to influence public perception, which she warned is ‘alarmingly effective.’

‘We see a picture of a very aggressive country which is investing a disproportionate amount of its funds into their military capacity,’ the defense minister said. ‘Despite heavy losses every week, every month, they are moving forward in Ukraine, and at the same time, they are expanding their capabilities. 

‘It raises considerable doubts if all that mass of military power is being accumulated only for Ukraine,’ Sakaliene said. 

Senate Republicans’ bid to pass a short-term government funding extension was foiled by Senate Democrats as the deadline to fund the government fast approaches.

While the proposal easily glided through the House with little drama, it hit a brick wall in the Senate and failed 44-48. Only one lawmaker, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., crossed the aisle to support the Republican plan. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also voted against the bill.

Their failure to send the House GOP’s continuing resolution (CR) to President Donald Trump’s desk came on the heels of Democrats’ failed attempt to advance their own counter-proposal to the Republicans’ plan.

It also comes as lawmakers gear up to leave Washington, D.C., for a week to observe the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. They’re expected to return with just two working days left before the deadline to fund the government on Sept. 30.

‘The House has acted,’ said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. ‘The president’s ready to sign the bill. We’ve got the appropriations committee and a lot of senators who are ready to go to work to pass bipartisan appropriations bills to fund the government by allowing these additional weeks into November. In order to do that, Democrats have to take ‘yes’ for an answer.’

The CR would have kept the government open until Nov. 21, and it included tens of millions for increased security for lawmakers and the judicial and executive branches.

Senate Democrats have dug in against the GOP’s proposal, not so much because of what’s in the bill, but what’s not in it. They have also hung the possibility of a government shutdown on Trump, who demanded that Republicans cut Democrats out of the process.

Thune charged that if Democrats were ‘serious’ about funding the government, they wouldn’t have ‘put out the most partisan piece of legislation you possibly could.’

‘I mean, it’s kind of mind-boggling,’ he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has also accused Thune of not negotiating with him — a point Thune has pushed back against and noted throughout the week that his office is less than 25 yards from Schumer’s.  

‘We have two weeks. They should sit down and talk to us, and we maybe can get a good proposal,’ Schumer said. ‘Let’s see. But when they don’t talk to us, there’s no hope of getting a good proposal. And that makes no sense.’

‘And again, when Donald Trump says don’t negotiate with Democrats, because he doesn’t know what the Senate is like, or he doesn’t know how to count, because without Democrats, they’re going to end up shutting down the government,’ he continued.

However, the demands Schumer and Democrats laid out in their counter are a bridge too far for Republicans.

Included in the bill were a permanent extension to COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year, efforts to repeal the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’ and a clawback of canceled NPR and PBS funding.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital that the legislation was a ‘Trojan horse by the Democrats.’

‘It’s to me, it’s a preview of what they’re going to want to do,’ he said.

‘Schumer has to play to the far-left fringe that is actually running the Democrat Party right now,’ Barrasso continued.

Senate Democrats are adamant that the Obamacare credits, in particular, need to be dealt with now rather than near the deadline. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told Fox News Digital that lawmakers ‘have to do it now.’

‘All the [insurance rate] notices go out Oct. 1, so you have to have it now,’ Peters said.

However, Republicans argue that including an extension to the tax credits to a short-term extension isn’t germane to the bill, especially one geared toward trying to give Congress time to fund the government with spending bills. And Thune has said that the credits would be ‘addressed’ after a shutdown was averted.

But for now, the issue at hand still boils down to communication between Thune and Schumer.

‘I mean, these are the leaders of the U.S. Senate,’ Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. ‘I expect them to step up. And if one’s not actually reaching out, the other one should at least demonstrate that they are — they’re trying to negotiate in good faith. If they don’t, then they get what they get.’ 

Senate Democrats’ counteroffer to congressional Republicans’ short-term government funding extension was torpedoed by the GOP on Friday.

The bill, which varies drastically from the House’s proposal that passed earlier in the day, was filled with Democratic priorities that they say are the only sweeteners that would convince them to keep the government open. But the provisions were a bridge too far for Senate Republicans.  

The Democrats’ bill, which was unveiled late Wednesday night, failed 47-45 along party lines. However, the GOP’s CR will be voted on right after. The fate of that bill is in the air, given that Democrats have vowed to oppose it throughout the week.

The deadline to pass a government funding extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), is Sept. 30, and lawmakers are expected to leave Washington, D.C., Friday night for a weeklong recess to observe the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

House Republicans unveiled their CR on Tuesday and have lauded the bill as a ‘clean’ funding extension until Nov. 21. While it doesn’t include partisan policy riders, it does include tens of millions to beef up security measures for lawmakers.

However, Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., opted to go with their own version of a CR, not because they disliked what was in Republicans’ bill, but what was not in it. They’ve also dug in against President Donald Trump’s demand that Republicans cut Democrats out of the process. 

Their plan would have kept the government open until Oct. 31, permanently extended expiring Obamacare premium subsidies, undoing the ‘big, beautiful bill’s’ Medicaid cuts, and clawing back the canceled funding for NPR and PBS.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., panned the bill and argued that the Republicans’ legislation was everything Democrats had pushed when they controlled the Senate under former President Joe Biden.

‘It’s not clean – it’s filthy,’ Thune said. ‘It’s packed full of partisan policies and measures designed to appeal to Democrats’ leftist base.’

However, Schumer has accused Thune of not coming to the negotiating table and directly engaging with him to find a path forward to avert a government shutdown.

Democrats particularly want a deal on the expiring Obamacare subsidies, along with some assurances on future rescissions and impoundments.

‘We’ll sit down and negotiate, if they will sit down and negotiate,’ Schumer said. ‘We don’t have a red line, but we know we have to help the American people.’

The Senate confirmed the last member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet on Friday after months of delay from Senate Democrats.

Lawmakers confirmed Mike Waltz to be Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations on a bipartisan 47-45 vote. Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., crossed the aisle to confirm him.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote against his confirmation. He also voted against Waltz’s advancing out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Waltz’s confirmation ends a nearly nine-month gap during which the U.S. was without a representative at the U.N., and it comes as the organization gears up for its General Assembly in New York City next week.

Waltz, a retired Army National Guard colonel and former Green Beret, previously served as a House Republican from Florida before being tapped to serve as Trump’s national security advisor.

However, he was dismissed from his position at the National Security Council following the ‘Signalgate’ controversy after Waltz added a journalist to a group chat with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Vice President JD Vance and others as they discussed strikes in Yemen.

Waltz took responsibility for the blunder and told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham at the time, ‘It’s embarrassing. We’re going to get to the bottom of it.’

Despite the hiccup, Trump tapped Waltz in May to be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

The move came after he subbed out Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., from the position. At the time, Trump cited concerns that losing her from the House would make it difficult to pass legislation, particularly his ‘big, beautiful bill,’ given the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the lower chamber.

Still, Waltz was scrutinized by Senate Democrats during his confirmation hearing in July, where lawmakers accused the former House Republican of an ‘amateurish’ move for including a journalist into a sensitive conversation. Waltz pushed back that there was no classified information shared in the chat.

During the hearing, Waltz advocated for reforms at the U.N. and argued that ‘we should have one place in the world where everyone can talk.’

‘Where China, Russia, Europe, the developing world, can come together and resolve conflicts,’ he said. ‘But after 80 years, it’s drifted from its core mission of peacemaking.’

President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to permit enforcement of a passport policy requiring transgender and nonbinary applicants to list their sex as male or female according to their birth certificate.

Due to a lower court order, transgender and nonbinary people can receive passports with an ‘X’ identification marker instead of male or female. The Justice Department has appealed that order, the Associated Press reported.

In its filing on Friday, Justice Department lawyers argued, ‘Private citizens cannot force the government to use inaccurate sex designations on identification documents that fail to reflect the person’s biological sex — especially not on identification documents that are government property and an exercise of the President’s constitutional and statutory power to communicate with foreign governments.’

On Jan. 20, President Trump signed an executive order directing the federal government to recognize only male or female designations based on ‘an individual’s immutable biological classification.’ 

The order instructed the State Department to issue official documents, including passports, in line with that standard.

A federal judge in Massachusetts later ruled the State Department must provide transgender and nonbinary applicants with passports reflecting the gender designation they select. 

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block that order while the case moves forward, prompting the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.

For more than three decades before the Trump administration, the State Department permitted people to update the sex designation on their passports.

In 2022, the Biden administration introduced the option for applicants to choose ‘X’ as a gender-neutral designation and to select ‘M’ or ‘F’ to indicate male or female, according to Reuters.

Fox News’ Bill Mears and Shannon Bream contributed to this report.