D.C. Circuit hears challenge to FMCSA's non-domiciled CDL rule
AI illustration
Why this matters: our read
This was argument, not a decision. Questions from the bench do not settle how the panel will rule, and the reported exchanges cut both ways: the judges questioned the agency on its visa exemptions while one of them appeared to accept its case on foreign driving records.
A three-judge D.C. Circuit panel heard oral argument on September 15 in Jorge Lujan v. FMCSA, docket 26-1032. The court’s list of September 2026 argument recordings names the judges as Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard and J. Michelle Childs, and Wendy Liu as the petitioner’s counsel.
The Federal Register text says the final rule took effect on March 16, 2026 and limits non-domiciled commercial licences to drivers in H-2A, H-2B or E-2 employment-based status. FMCSA estimated there that about 200,000 people hold non-domiciled CDLs, and said some will lose eligibility and have the credential downgraded at renewal. The law firm Scopelitis reported that the court refused an emergency stay on May 5 and the rule stands during the case.
Land Line reported that Liu, of the Public Citizen Litigation Group, called the rule “illogical”, and that Millett appeared to credit the agency’s position that states cannot check foreign driving records. Land Line and Overdrive both reported that the judges questioned the visa exemptions. The panel has not decided, Land Line said.
Sources
- Published by
- Federal Register (FMCSA), official text via GovInfo
- Role
- Primary source
- Item
- Restoring Integrity to the Issuance of Non-Domiciled Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDL)
- Published
- Published by
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- Role
- Primary source
- Item
- Oral argument recordings, September 2026
- Published
- Published by
- Land Line
- Role
- Secondary source
- Item
- FMCSA says vetting is key to non-domiciled CDL rule
- Published
- Published by
- Overdrive
- Role
- Secondary source
- Item
- FMCSA's non-domiciled CDL ban takes a beating in court
- Published
- Published by
- Scopelitis
- Role
- Secondary source
- Item
- D.C. Circuit keeps FMCSA's Final Rule in Place While the Case Proceeds
- Published