Supreme Court Rejects Florida Lawsuit Challenging Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a direct lawsuit filed by Florida against California and Washington over commercial truck driver’s licenses allegedly issued to people living in the country illegally. The court denied the request without comment, ending Florida’s attempt to bring the dispute straight to the nation’s highest court rather than starting in a lower court.
Florida’s case grew out of a deadly crash in the state last year involving a truck driven by Harjinder Singh, an Indian man whom Florida says was in the United States without legal status. The state alleges Singh was improperly licensed in both California and Washington and that those licenses should never have been issued. Singh faces criminal charges related to the crash, which killed three people and triggered a broader political and legal fight over immigration, road safety and state licensing standards.
The lawsuit accused the two Democratic-led states of ignoring federal immigration and safety rules by issuing commercial licenses to people who lacked the ability to qualify under those standards. Florida argued that such drivers can cross state lines and pose a danger to residents in Florida and elsewhere. The state also claimed California and Washington were helping undermine federal law through what it described as “open defiance” of immigration rules. Iowa and 16 other states backed Florida’s position in a supporting brief.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, filed the case directly with the Supreme Court, a rare move typically reserved for disputes between states when the justices decide to exercise original jurisdiction. The court can hear such cases, but it rarely chooses to do so. Washington’s attorney general called the lawsuit a “political stunt, not a real claim,” pointing out that Uthmeier announced the filing during an appearance on Fox News host Sean Hannity’s program.
In a separate opinion, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have agreed to hear the case. Justice Samuel Alito joined him. Thomas wrote that the court was refusing even to consider Florida’s claims despite the state having no other place to file them.
The lawsuit also became part of a larger national debate over immigration and trucking safety. The Trump administration has adopted a harder line on immigration enforcement and, after the Florida crash, threatened to cut federal funding from California, Washington and New Mexico unless they enforced English-language requirements for commercial drivers. Florida’s case added to pressure on states that issue commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens, while supporters of the defendant states argued the dispute was being used for political messaging rather than a legitimate legal question.
The Supreme Court’s decision leaves in place the lower-level disagreement over how states administer commercial trucking licenses and how far federal immigration policy reaches into state licensing decisions. It also closes off Florida’s attempt to have the justices intervene directly in a clash that has become a flashpoint in the broader fight over immigration, public safety and state authority.
