May 26 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed by Florida against California and Washington over a fatal crash involving a truck driver who was an undocumented immigrant.
The suit alleged that the states allowed people without proper documentation and an inability to understand English to get commercial driver’s licenses.
The case stems from a fatal Aug. 18 crash on the Florida Turnpike in St. Lucie, Fla. The accident killed three people. The driver of a truck in the crash was Harjinder Singh, 28, of California, who was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide after he allegedly tried to make an illegal U-turn. Singh, who was born in India, allegedly didn’t understand English road signs and had been issued licenses in California and Washington.
The court rejected the case without comment. But Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion saying they wanted to hear the dispute.
“This court declines to even hear Florida’s claims, even though it has nowhere else to bring them,” Thomas wrote.
Attorneys for California and Washington called the suit a “political stunt.” They said even if the allegations were true, the federal agency that regulates commercial driver’s license standards should address the claims. That agency the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is under the Department of Transportation.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, filed the claim at the Supreme Court instead of a lower state or federal court. The court sometimes intervenes in these disputes, but it happens rarely.
“California’s and Washington’s decisions to endanger their own citizens is reprehensible,” Uthmeier said in a court filing. “But commercial drivers routinely cross state lines, endangering citizens of other States.”
Washington Attorney General Nicholas Brown called the suit a distraction, saying Florida is “seeking to distract from its own incompetence.”
“In recent years, Florida has improperly licensed thousands of commercial drivers without evidence that those drivers speak English or meet residency requirements,” he wrote in a court filing.
He also argued that the suit would set a dangerous precedent.
“Can States bring nuisance claims against each other in this Court alleging that lax vaccination policies or firearm restrictions in one state are causing harm in another?” Brown wrote. “The Court should not open that door.”
In late August, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said California, Washington and New Mexico would lose federal funding unless they adopted and enforced English language proficiency rules for commercial drivers. Duffy said the states would lose up to 100% of funding from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.