The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s attempt to sue California and Washington for licensing an undocumented truck driver accused of killing three Floridians in a traffic accident.
“The motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied,” the court’s brief dismissal reads.
The majority did not explain its reasoning. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, nominated by George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively, dissented, arguing the court should reconsider its longstanding reluctance to hear disputes between states.
“This Court declines to even hear Florida’s claims, even though it has nowhere else to bring them,” Thomas wrote in a four-page dissent. “Because I would allow Florida to file its complaint, I respectfully dissent.”
The court’s refusal comes seven months after Uthmeier — in a long-shot attempt at a state vs. state battle — asked the court to let him sue the blue states for issuing commercial driver’s licenses to Harjinder Singh, a 47-year-old Indian national in the country without proper documentation.
Singh, who had failed an English proficiency test, caused a fatal crash on a St. Lucie County highway after attempting an illegal U-turn.
The lawsuit alleged California and Washington improperly issued Singh commercial driver’s licenses, violating federal safety regulations. Uthmeier wanted to permanently ban the states from providing CDLs to any other non-citizens.
Singh was not arrested at the scene and left for California, where the U.S. marshals later arrested him.
The crash sparked instant nationwide backlash: Secretary of State Marco Rubio temporarily froze visas for foreign-born truck drivers while the U.S. Department of Transportation withheld more than $40 million from California for its alleged licensing failures.
In Florida, Uthmeier issued criminal subpoenas to the trucking firm employing Singh. Gov. Ron DeSantis enlisted his lieutenant governor, Jay Collins — then gearing up for a gubernatorial bid — in a press-heavy run to bring Singh back to the Sunshine State.
In October, Uthmeier announced on FOX News that he would sue California and Washington for licensing Singh.
But the suit — officially killed on Tuesday — was likely doomed from the start: SCOTUS, despite holding exclusive jurisdiction over state versus state cases, has historically accepted only a few of these disputes.
No legal path
In a statement Tuesday, Uthmeier spokesperson Jae Williams criticized the ruling, saying it left Florida without a legal path to challenge the licensing decisions.
“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court leaves Floridians with no avenue to hold California accountable for putting dangerous, illegal alien truck drivers on our roads, despite the U.S. Constitution’s mandate and Congress directing the Court to hear controversies between the states,” Williams told the Phoenix.
Mike Faulk, spokesman for Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, issued a written statement: “We’ll let the arguments we laid out in the filings speak for themselves on this matter. We’re pleased that the matter has been appropriately resolved.”
In filings to the Supreme Court, California Attorney General Rob Bonta insisted that Florida had it wrong from the start: He claimed Singh, to obtain the license, provided an employment authorization document that the state verified through a federal database.
“The allegations in the proposed complaint are notably lacking, as Florida admits that it does not even know how California’s commercial driver’s license program works,” Bonta said.
–Liv Caputo, Florida Phoenix
The Washington State Standard, like the Phoenix affiliated with the States Newsroom network, contributed to this story.
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