CHICAGO – Attorney General Kwame Raoul led a coalition of 24 attorneys general announcing 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, and from terminating more than $10 million in federal funding to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) if it refuses to produce the database.
“Our coalition working together obtained this preliminary injunction that prevents the Trump administration from holding federal funding hostage in order to obtain the sensitive, personal information of millions of drivers,” Raoul said. “This database serves as an important tool that helps states prevent unsafe drivers from operating commercial vehicles. However, the administration’s unlawful actions jeopardize the entire system, which has existed for 40 years. I will continue to vigorously litigate this lawsuit to stop the Trump administration’s unlawful misuse of Americans’ personal information.”
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In August, Raoul 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 Raoul and the attorneys general filed the lawsuits, the court issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the administration from obtaining this sensitive information for two weeks. Today’s preliminary injunction blocks the demand as Raoul and the attorneys general continue to litigate the ongoing case.
Attorney General Raoul led the filing of these lawsuits with Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb. Also joining these lawsuits are attorneys general of?Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
