A federal appeals court has rejected an effort to pause the Trump administration’s rule restricting non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 2-1 on May 5 against issuing a stay of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rule pending completion of a lawsuit. It also granted a request for an expedited trial of the pending case. 

FMCSA’s updated rule was announced in February and took effect in March. It limits eligibility to H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 nonimmigrant status holders, requires applicants to present an unexpired foreign passport, and requires states to query the SAVE system to confirm every applicant’s lawful status.

“We deny a stay because the petitioners have not shown a strong likelihood of success. But we grant expedition given the lack of opposition, the importance of the questions presented, and the significant government and private interests implicated,” the judges wrote.

Last fall, the same court agreed to pause FMCSA’s first attempt at a non-domiciled CDL rule for failing to follow proper procedure and for not articulating “a satisfactory explanation for how the rule would promote safety.” Several months later, FMCSA published the updated rule.

The primary defendant is Jorge Rivera Lujan, a DACA recipient who was a truck driver for more than a decade until losing his CDL due to FMCSA’s rule. After each side files legal briefs this summer, oral arguments will likely take place in September.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently said more than 28,000 foreign truckers have had their CDLs revoked by states during the past year. FMCSA’s rule could eventually eliminate nearly 200,000 non-domiciled CDLs.