WASHINGTON — The nation’s highest court turned away Florida’s ambitious legal challenge on Tuesday, declining to hear the state’s lawsuit against California and Washington over their policies of granting commercial driving permits to truckers who cannot speak English and lack legal authorization to remain in the country.
The legal dispute originated from a deadly collision in Florida last year that claimed three lives. The motorist responsible, Harjinder Singh, stands accused of executing an unlawful U-turn that triggered the fatal accident. Singh, an Indian national, possessed a current commercial driving permit issued by California and had previously obtained similar authorization from Washington state.
Florida’s Republican leadership has charged the Democrat-controlled Western states with deliberately flouting federal immigration statutes and petitioned the justices to declare that states cannot lawfully grant CDLs to individuals who lack citizenship or permanent legal residency status.
While the nation’s top court generally reviews decisions from lower tribunals, it occasionally considers what legal experts call original cases where states directly challenge one another before the highest judicial authority.
Two justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, registered their disagreement with Tuesday’s decision, following their customary practice of objecting when the court declines to hear original state-versus-state disputes, maintaining that the court must accept jurisdiction over such matters.
In related developments, a federal appellate court has halted a Trump administration initiative that sought to establish new limitations significantly restricting immigrant eligibility for commercial driving credentials needed to operate large trucks or buses.
