Wisconsin Department of Justice Secures Preliminary Injunction Over Trump Administration’s Unlawful Demand of CDL Drivers’ Personal Information
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition announced a U.S. District Court judge granted a preliminary injunction that blocks the Trump administration from demanding the production of a database of state-owned records containing the sensitive personal information of 17 million drivers – including nearly 300,000 Wisconsin commercial drivers – and from terminating more than $10 million in federal funding to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) if it refuses.
“The federal government shouldn’t be trying to bully an organization into handing over people’s sensitive, personal information,” said AG Kaul. “This ruling is a win for privacy against federal overreach.”
In August, DOJ and the coalition filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which is an administration of the DOT, and AAMVA, as well as an additional related lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The lawsuits claim the DOT, FMCSA and DHS are violating multiple federal privacy laws by secretly setting up their own database with records extorted from AAMVA, with no guardrails on the use or sharing of drivers’ Social Security numbers and other personal information, and no notice to the public.
Just a week after DOJ and the coalition filed the lawsuits, the court issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the administration from obtaining this sensitive information for two weeks. This preliminary injunction blocks the demand as DOJ and the coalition continue to litigate the ongoing case.
DOJ filed these lawsuits with the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, as well as the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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