Supreme Court declines Florida bid over commercial licenses for undocumented drivers

Hernando County employers that depend on truck drivers are unlikely to see an immediate change from the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up Florida’s challenge, but the broader crackdown on commercial licensing is already shaping how drivers qualify for work across the state.

The court on May 26 denied Florida leave to file its original complaint against California and Washington, leaving those states free to continue issuing commercial driver licenses under their own systems. Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, objected to the refusal and tied the dispute to the August 12, 2025 crash on the Florida Turnpike in St. Lucie County that killed three people.

Florida had argued that Harjinder Singh, who the state said entered the United States illegally in 2018 and later obtained a CDL in California, should never have been behind the wheel of a semi-tractor trailer. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said Singh faced three vehicular homicide counts and an ICE detainer after the crash.

For Hernando County, where freight movement and construction both depend on a steady supply of licensed drivers, the practical question is not whether the Supreme Court action changes local hiring overnight. It does not. The bigger local pressure comes from the licensing rules already in place. On February 6, Florida began giving all driver license knowledge and skills exams only in English, a change that removed multilingual testing options for most non-commercial licenses and English-Spanish availability for CDL-related exams.

The federal government has also moved. On February 11, the U.S. Department of Transportation said at least 17 fatal crashes and 30 deaths in 2025 were caused by non-domiciled drivers. Two days later, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published a final rule limiting eligibility for non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and CDLs to certain verifiable employment-based nonimmigrant statuses.

Thomas wrote that federal testing found Singh could answer only a limited number of English-verbal questions and identify one of four highway signs. He also said Singh had failed the driving test at least ten times in Washington and at least once in California before the states issued him commercial licenses.

Florida lawmakers tried to go further this year with a proposal that would have required officers to detain undocumented truck drivers, impound their rigs and levy a $50,000 civil penalty on the owner or motor carrier, but that measure did not become law in the regular session. For Hernando County, the immediate effects are more likely to show up in applicant screening, training access and driver shortages than in any direct court order.