A federal court Monday paused the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's emergency rule issued in late September to halt states from issuing or renew commercial driver's licenses to non-domiciled truckers.
The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit comes in response to a lawsuit by three national organization on behalf of drivers challenging the emergency final rule issued Sept. 29.
The court ordered the FMCSA to pause enforcement of the rule so the court can give it more consideration. The court said its ruling "should not be construed in any way as ruling on the merits" of the rule.
Late last month, the Public Citizen Litigation Group, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the AFT (a national union for teachers) filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to challenge the FMCSA's rule the organizations said threatens the livelihoods of nearly 200,000 truckers.
RELATED NEWS: Here's what people say about new rule restricting non-domiciled CDLs
The FMCSA's rule came in the wake of several high-profile fatal accidents involving foreign-born truckers.
One national trucking organization urged Congress to pass a proposed law that would make the "non-domiciled CDL crackdown the law of the land.”
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer today issued a statement that said:
“OOIDA and truckers across America support the Trump Administration’s action to restore integrity to the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs. For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto our highways, putting professional truckers and the motoring public at risk.
"While the policy itself is sound, it is now tied up in court over procedural technicalities in how the rule was issued, not its substance. Representative Rouzer’s Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act reflects the Trump Administration’s policy and would make it permanent. Passing this bill and getting it signed into law will protect these critical safety reforms from being undone by future court decisions or a new administration. Congress must act immediately to make President Trump’s non-domiciled CDL crackdown the law of the land.”
