The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Florida's long-shot attempt to sue California and Washington state over the issuance of commercial driver's licenses to immigrants living in the US illegally.
The case stemmed from a crash in Florida last year that killed three people. The driver, Harjinder Singh, is accused of making an illegal U-turn that caused the accident. Singh, who is from India, was carrying a valid commercial driver's license from California and had earlier been granted one by Washington state.
Republican-led Florida accused the Western states, led by Democrats, of openly defying immigration laws and asked the justices to rule that states lack the authority to issue such licenses to people who are not citizens or legal permanent residents.
The Supreme Court typically hears appeals of lower-court decisions, but it sometimes takes on original lawsuits in which states sue each other. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from Tuesday's order, as they often do when the court rejects an original lawsuit, saying that the court has no choice but to hear such cases.
Separately, a federal appeals court has blocked a Trump administration proposal to impose new restrictions that would severely limit which immigrants can get commercial driver’s licenses for trucks or buses.
