Religious Beliefs Help Passport Applicant Without Birth Records

A woman who doesn’t have a birth certificate or Social Security number because of her religious beliefs must still be issued a passport, a federal court said.

Passport requirements substantially burdened her religious beliefs and the State Department didn’t show that the burden was the least restrictive way to achieve passport integrity, Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the US District Court for the District of Columbia said Tuesday.

Abigail Carmichael Jordan said in her complaint that “her God-given identity is sacred,” and her allegiance to the government must be subservient to God. She thinks that obtaining a Social Security number ...