Federal judge blocks Trump administration demand for commercial driver data

A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from demanding a database containing the personal information of 17 million commercial drivers. The ruling, issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, extends a temporary block previously established earlier this year.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 24 attorneys general in the legal challenge. The case disputes a federal effort to obtain state-owned driver records from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a nonprofit that manages the Commercial Driver’s License Information System.

The injunction also prevents the administration from withholding more than $10 million in federal funding from the association if it refuses to comply with the data demand. The coalition alleges that the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration violated federal privacy laws by attempting to build a separate database without adequate safeguards for sensitive information.