Florida wanted to sue California and Washington over a fatal accident in Florida caused by an illegal immigrant from India. The Washington state attorney general called it a “political stunt.”
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Unbranded – Newsworthy
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on May 26 rejected Florida’s attempt to sue California and Washington over a fatal crash in Florida involving an illegal immigrant from India that became a political flashpoint.
The court rejected Florida’s complaint that the state allows untrained immigrants who are not fluent in English to drive commercial trucks.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they wanted to hear the argument.
Lawyers in California and Washington called the lawsuit a “political stunt.” Lawyers for the states said that even if the allegations were true, they should be addressed by the federal agency that regulates standards for commercial driver licenses.
Otherwise, the Supreme Court will be asked to weigh in on policy disputes between states, said Washington Attorney General Nicholas Braun.
“Can states sue each other for nuisance in this court because one state’s lax vaccination policies or firearm regulations harm another state?” Brown wrote in the filing. “The court should not open its doors.”
Florida asked the Supreme Court for permission to sue directly under a procedure used to resolve interstate disputes such as water rights and boundary disputes.
In his dissent, Thomas said the court should have taken the case because Florida has no other means of raising such a challenge.
The challenge stems from a crash that killed three people on a Florida highway in August.
Harjinder Singh, who the federal government says entered the United States illegally from Mexico in 2018, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he caused an accident while attempting to make an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike. He has not yet been tried.
But the incident quickly turned into a political battle between President Donald Trump, Republican leaders in Florida, and Democratic leaders in California and Washington. Singh obtained his commercial driver’s license first in Washington state and then in California.
“California and Washington’s decisions to put their citizens at risk are reprehensible,” Florida Attorney General James Usmayer said in a Supreme Court filing. “However, commercial drivers routinely cross state lines, putting residents of other states at risk.”
Usmayer asked the court to prevent other states from issuing licenses to drivers who entered the country illegally.
Washington Attorney General Brown said Florida is “trying to distract from its own incompetence.”
“In recent years, Florida has improperly licensed thousands of commercial drivers without proof that the drivers spoke English or met residency requirements,” he wrote.
In this year’s State of the Union address, President Trump asked Congress to prohibit states from issuing commercial driver’s licenses to people who do not have legal permission to reside in the United States.
His proposed legislation would complement a series of regulatory and enforcement changes being implemented by the federal Department of Transportation, which oversees motor carriers.
Among the most vocal critics of the measure are Indian-born Sikhs, who make up about 150,000 members of the trucking industry, according to regulatory data. Tens of thousands of Sikhs have sought asylum in the United States during the Biden presidency, many crossing the Mexican border without prior permission.
Contributor: Trevor Hughes
