The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted a temporary restraining order halting the Trump Administration's attempt to obtain sensitive personal information from commercial drivers, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced.
The order blocks demands for commercial driver data including names, license numbers, and licensing states. Two federal agencies were involved: the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which threatened to withhold funding from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which issued a separate subpoena.
AAMVA operates the Commercial Driver's License Information System (CDLIS), a federally mandated database states use to verify that applicants for commercial driver's licenses do not hold licenses in other states. Such licenses are required to operate large, heavy, or hazardous commercial vehicles, such as semi-trucks. The federal government has historically used the system to search individual records, but the FMCSA recently threatened to withhold funding and terminate its cooperative agreement unless AAMVA provided records on millions of drivers.
Attorney General Bonta joined a multistate coalition challenging both demands, arguing they violated the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, the federal Privacy Act, and constitutional protections.
"Today's ruling marks another important step in making sure Americans' privacy rights remain protected and resolute," Bonta said. "When the President forgets the rules of the road, we'll be there to remind him."