A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from obtaining the personal information of millions of commercial drivers, following a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and a multistate coalition.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted the coalition’s request for a temporary restraining order on Aug. 20, preventing the administration from obtaining the data for now. The ruling came one week after James, 21 other attorneys general and Pennsylvania sued to stop the federal government from accessing records maintained through the Commercial Driver’s License Information System, or CDLIS.
The database contains the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of approximately 17 million commercial drivers nationwide, including nearly 500,000 New Yorkers. The states have relied on CDLIS for nearly 40 years to help verify commercial drivers’ licensing status and qualifications.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, requested the entire CDLIS database from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators on July 23. The request included records dating back five years and Social Security numbers.
According to the New York attorney general’s office, the federal government threatened to terminate federal grants and contracts supporting the system if the records were not provided. The Department of Homeland Security also issued a subpoena seeking access to the database on Aug. 11.
James said the court’s temporary order protects commercial drivers’ personal information while the legal challenge proceeds.
“The federal government cannot arbitrarily seize Americans’ private information. Today’s ruling puts a stop to this unlawful demand and protects millions of commercial drivers from this invasion of privacy. My office will continue to fight every attempt to weaponize federal funding against New York and its residents.”
New York officials say CDLIS plays a central role in the state’s commercial licensing process. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles uses the system to verify applicants’ identities, medical fitness and driving histories in other states before issuing or renewing commercial driver’s licenses. The state queries the database approximately 30,000 times each day.
The potential disruption could affect approximately 20,000 commercial learner’s permit holders and about 500,000 CDL holders in New York, according to the attorney general’s office.
The multistate coalition argues that transferring the records to federal control would raise significant privacy concerns and could alter how sensitive driver information is maintained and shared.
The temporary restraining order does not resolve the underlying legal dispute. The case will continue as the court considers the coalition’s broader challenge to the federal government’s demand for the records.