On October 30, 2025, a broad coalition of local governments and leaders from across the country filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a lawsuit challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s harmful interim final rule that would revoke or deny the renewal of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) held by asylum seekers, refugees, and DACA recipients.
The new rule, issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), threatened to immediately restrict nearly 200,000 qualified commercial drivers across the country—forcing local governments to scale back public services that depend on licensed operators, such as public transportation, school bus routes, and road maintenance, and undermining local economic stability.
The brief was filed in support of plaintiffs Jorge Rivera Lujan, Aleksei Semenovskii, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and urged the court to halt the rule while the litigation proceeds. The brief emphasized that the interim final rule does not advance road safety, but instead, as local governments warn, the rule will worsen driver shortages, increase costs, disrupt transit and supply chains, and heighten safety risks by overworking remaining staff and leaving critical services understaffed.
On November 13, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and granted an emergency stay to temporarily block the Trump-Vance administration’s harmful interim final rule.
The coalition filing the amicus brief included: City of Albany, New York; City of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Montgomery County, Maryland; City of New York, New York; City and County of San Francisco, California; Celina Benitez, Mayor, City of Mount Rainier, Maryland; Jesse Brown, Councilmember, City of Indianapolis, Indiana; Chelsea Byers, Mayor, City of West Hollywood, California; Chris Canales, Councilmember, City of El Paso, Texas; Michael Chameides, Supervisor, County of Columbia, New York; John Clark, Mayor, Town of Ridgway, Colorado; Alison Coombs, Councilmember, City of Aurora, Colorado; Christine Corrado, Councilmember, Township of Brighton, New York; Nikki Fortunato Bas, Supervisor, Alameda County, California; Brenda Gadd, Councilmember, Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; Caroline Torosis, Mayor Pro Tempore, City of Santa Monica, California; Terry Vo, Councilmember, Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; Ginny Welsch, Councilmember, Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee; and Robin Wilt, Councilmember, Township of Brighton, New York.
The case is Jorge Rivera Lujan et al. v. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration et al.
Timeline
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Friend-of-the-court brief is filed.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit grants an emergency stay to block the rule.
