Florida argues that “sanctuary” laws in California and Washington have contributed to unqualified individuals receiving CDLs and being allowed to operate 80,000-pound tractor-trailers nationwide.
Sanctuary laws, which vary from location to location, limit how much law enforcement is tasked with enforcing federal immigration laws.
At the center of the case, Florida called out a fatal 2025 crash in St. Lucie County, Fla., involving truck driver Harjinder Singh. The initial investigation indicated that Singh made an illegal U-turn, which led to the crash. Singh was arrested for three counts of vehicular homicide. The preliminary investigation alleged that Washington and California improperly issued Singh a CDL in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
That prompted Florida to petition the U.S. Supreme Court in October 2025. Attorney General James Uthmeier told the Supreme Court that the two states’ defiance of federal immigration laws created “mayhem” for states such as Florida.
“State and federal investigations quickly revealed that the illegal immigrant does not speak English,” Florida wrote in the October 2025 petition. “He was able to answer only two of 12 questions correctly on an English-proficiency test and identify only one of four traffic signals. Under current federal law, this driver should have never received a license from any state to operate a commercial motor vehicle. But California and Washington nevertheless licensed him. Washington improperly issued this illegal immigrant a CDL in 2023, after 13 failed examinations. California issued him a non-domiciled CDL the following year.”
This week, the Supreme Court rejected Florida’s lawsuit.
Although the court denied Florida’s motion without comment, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a dissenting opinion. Justice Samuel Alito joined Thomas in his dissent.
Thomas contended that the U.S. Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction over Florida’s lawsuit because it involves one state suing other states.
“This court declines to even hear Florida’s claims, even though it has nowhere else to bring them,” Thomas wrote. “Because I would allow Florida to file its complaint, I respectfully dissent.” LL
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