Florida sued alleging that states like California and Washington issued CDL licenses violating federal trucking and immigration laws after a fatal crash.
By Catholics for Catholics
The Supreme Court said Tuesday that it would not permit Florida to file a complaint challenging two other states that let illegal immigrants get hold of commercial driver’s licenses and drive on America’s roads.
Florida had contended the high court was the right place to settle the Sunshine State’s dispute with California and Washington, the two states it sought to sue, according to a story by Fox News.
Still, the justices turned back the complaint without comment.
But Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, saying Florida deserved its chance to challenge what has become a “disturbingly common” problem of “illegal immigrants who cannot read English” yet are licensed to drive large tractor-trailers.
He argued that the court had an obligation to take up the quarrel.
In addition, Thomas accused California and Washington of destabilizing federal immigration and trucking safety standards after a lethal Florida highway crash, blasting the Supreme Court on Tuesday for declining to hear a case Florida had “nowhere else to bring.”
Florida contended the two blue states inappropriately gave commercial driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in infringement of federal standards requiring English competence and lawful immigration status for certain commercial drivers, claiming the policies created a public safety threat on American roads.
Standing with Justice Samuel Alito, Thomas said the Supreme Court had a constitutional duty to hear the quarrel because lawsuits between states can only be taken before the high court.
“If this Court does not exercise jurisdiction over a controversy between two States, then the complaining State has no judicial forum in which to seek relief,” Thomas wrote.
Thomas reasoned that Florida’s contentions against Washington and California were serious because not following federal commercial licensing laws can create perilous road conditions and, he said, has contributed to lethal crashes.
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