Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and a coalition of 24 attorneys general 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 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.
“While the Trump administration continues its unlawful quest to acquire the personal information of Michigan residents for a secret database, court after court has shut them down, and I am relieved this case is no different,” said Nessel. “As a major industrial hub, Michigan relies on CDL drivers to deliver essential goods. Targeting them with demands for unfettered access to their data while threatening to strip states of critical funding shatters privacy rights and jeopardizes our economy. When the federal government violates the rule of law and harms the people of our
state, I will not hesitate to defend their rights.”
In August, Nessel 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 AGs filed the lawsuits, the court issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the administration from obtaining this sensitive information for two weeks. The preliminary injunction blocks the demand as Nessel and the attorneys general continue to litigate the ongoing case.
Nessel filed these lawsuits with the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
“While the Trump administration continues its unlawful quest to acquire the personal information of Michigan residents for a secret database, court after court has shut them down, and I am relieved this case is no different,” said Nessel. “As a major industrial hub, Michigan relies on CDL drivers to deliver essential goods. Targeting them with demands for unfettered access to their data while threatening to strip states of critical funding shatters privacy rights and jeopardizes our economy. When the federal government violates the rule of law and harms the people of our
state, I will not hesitate to defend their rights.”
In August, Nessel 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 AGs filed the lawsuits, the court issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the administration from obtaining this sensitive information for two weeks. The preliminary injunction blocks the demand as Nessel and the attorneys general continue to litigate the ongoing case.
Nessel filed these lawsuits with the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the states of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
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