BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit from Florida challenging California and Washington state laws that allow undocumented immigrants to obtain commercial driver's licenses.
The court announced Tuesday it would not hear the case. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were the only two who indicated a willingness to hear it.
Attorney Win Eaton said the decision amounts to no change in the current legal landscape.
"Essentially, it's a big fat nothing. Nothing has changed."
Florida had sought an injunction against the CDL licensing programs in both states. Eaton said the court's refusal to act leaves those programs intact.
"Florida was essentially seeking an injunction against California and Washington licensing schemes, there is no injunction. The Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction, therefore those licenses and those schemes are still in place and still valid."
Florida filed the lawsuit after an accident involving an undocumented immigrant who held a California CDL killed multiple people. The suit challenged both states' laws allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain the federally regulated, but state-issued, commercial licenses.
Eaton said the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case does not resolve the underlying legal questions.
"That doesn't mean that California and Washington's CDL licensing scheme is valid. That doesn't mean that the merits of the claim from Florida is not valid, it means nothing changes… they are licensed and regulated heavily through the federal government, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. So that's where we're going to run into a legal issue, is whether the federal requirements and the State of California's and Washington's noncompliance with those federal requirements is going to be litigated out to some conclusion at some point."
For truckers who hold undocumented status and licenses in California and Washington, nothing changes for now — but the issue appears primed for future court battles.
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