New York Courts Get One Right

Illegal aliens do not have the right to a New York State driver's license, so says the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. Thank you for stating the obvious, but to recap:

A lawsuit brought by immigrants and their advocates claimed a state Department of Motor Vehicles policy created by the Pataki administration "is essentially an effort to deny driver's licenses to immigrants not legally present in New York,'' the Court of Appeals decision stated.

"To state the obvious, undocumented aliens lack documents,'' wrote Judge Robert Smith in the 5-2 decision, "And the DMV's right to insist on such documents is undisputed.''

At issue was a rule issued Sept. 6, 2001, just five days before terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, requiring driver's license applicants to provide federal immigration documents to prove they were in the country legally. Some of the Sept. 11 hijackers had obtained driver's licenses.

The state has long required applicants who don't have Social Security numbers to submit a Social Security Administration letter stating the person wasn't eligible to work in the U.S. so wasn't issued a Social Security number, but was present in the country legally. The 2001 rule made immigrants provide more proof.

The lawsuit was launched after the state started cracking down in 2004, an effort that was expected to result in the loss of driver's licenses for 300,000 illegal immigrants.

Kudos to the Court of Appeals for getting this one right.

UPDATE:
Expect the illegal alien lobby to pressure Gov. Spitzer into amending or weakening the rule, which was put in place to deter fraud and has the added benefit of preventing terrorists and other criminal elements from obtaining drivers licenses, which are a foundation document needed to create fake identities and can then be used for all manner of mayhem.

UPDATE:
The text of the decision can be found here (Cubas v Martinez, 2007 NY Slip Op 04723, 06/07/2007).