Supreme Court denies Florida’s lawsuit over CDLs issued to illegal immigrants

The Supreme Court denied a lawsuit filed by Florida against California and Washington over their issuance of commercial driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in violation of federal law.

The high court denied the petition to hear the case 7-2, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. Florida filed a motion for the Supreme Court to hear the lawsuit directly because it was a lawsuit between two or more states, a rare instance of the high court’s original jurisdiction, but the unsigned majority did not offer an explanation for why it denied hearing the case. Thomas wrote a five-page dissent, joined by Alito, arguing that because the Sunshine State cannot file the lawsuit in any other court, the justices must hear their claims against the two West Coast states.

“The State of Florida moved for leave to file a complaint against Washington and California for defying federal law by providing commercial driver’s