A federal judge gave a green light Tuesday to New York’s so-called Green Light Law, rejecting the Trump admin
istration’s bid to stop the state from giving people driver’s licenses without having them prove they are in the country legally.
U.S. District Judge Anne M. Nardacci in Albany ruled that the Republican administration — which challenged the law
under President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration — had failed to support its claims that the state la
w usurps federal law or that it unlawfully regulates or unlawfully discriminates against the federal government.
The Justice Department sued the state over the law in February, naming Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state’s att
rney general, Letitia James, as defendants. At a news conference announcing the lawsuit, U.S. Attorney General Pam B
ondi accused the officials, both Democrats, of prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens.”
“As I said from the start, our laws protect the rights of all New Yorkers and keep our communities safe,” James said in a statement Friday. “I will always stand up for New Yorkers and the rule of law.”
A message seeking comment was left for the Justice Department.
Nardacci, appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, wrote that her job was not to evaluate the desirability of the Green Light Law as a policy
matter. Rather, she said in a 23-page opinion, it was to assess wh
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ether the Trump administration’s arguments established that the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which gives federal laws precedence over state laws.
The administration, she wrote, has “failed to state such a claim.”
The Green Light Law was enacted partly to improve public safety on the roads, as people without licenses
sometimes drove without one, or without having passed a road test. The state also makes it easier for holders of such licenses to get auto insurance, thus cutting down on crashes involving uninsured drivers.
Under the law, people who don’t have a valid Social Security number can submit alternative forms of ID tha
t include valid passports and driver’s licenses issued in other countries. Applicants must still get a permit and pass
a road test to qualify for a “standard driver’s license.” It does not apply to commercial driver’s licenses.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit sought to strike down the law as “a frontal assault on the federal immigration
laws, and the federal authorities that administer them.” It highlighted a provision that requires the state’s Departmen
t of Motor Vehicles commissioner to inform people who are in t
e country illegally when a federal immigration agency has requested their information.
In 2020, during Trump’s first term, his administration sought to pressure New York into changing the l
aw by barring anyone from the state from enrolling in truste
d traveler programs, meaning they would spend longer amounts of time going through security lines at airports.