Judge pauses Merola lawsuit
Drivers license law attacked by clerk
A federal judge in Albany has issued an order that will temporarily pause Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola’s effort to block a state law allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses.
The order issued this week by U.S District Senior Judge Gary L. Sharpe will stay the case until a similar federal complaint — filed about two weeks earlier in Erie County and scheduled for oral arguments later this month — is resolved. The law is scheduled to take effect in December, with state officials estimating 265,000 undocumented immigrants will apply for licenses in the coming years.
Merola and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the defendant in the Albany case, were directed by Sharpe to provide an update on Nov. 1 if the Buffalo case has not been resolved. If action is needed on Merola’s lawsuit, Sharpe ruled that it will be heard in U.S. District Court in Albany, denying a request from Cuomo’s attorneys that the case be consolidated with the earlier case in the New York’s Western District.
“We are looking forward to our day in court,” Merola said in a statement.
Merola, a Republican, contends the state law, which was pushed through by Democratic lawmakers, is preempted by federal immigration laws and is unconstitutional. Proponents of the measure say it will promote public safety, boost the state’s economy and improve the quality of life for undocumented immigrants.
The challenges have attracted national attention, including supportive filing from civil liberty groups and states with similar laws.
“Merola contends that the (law) places him in the impossible position of either violating federal immigration laws or being removed from office for refusing to administer it,” Sharpe wrote in his ruling last week. “It is not readily apparent what claim(s) he alleges, but Merola seeks a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief.”
Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr., who was appointed to head the attorney general’s Buffalo office by President Donald J. Trump, asked the judge overseeing the case in western New York for permission to file a motion to intervene in that case. His office wouldn’t comment on the nature of the intervention, but the filing is expected to oppose the state law. Republican members of New York’s congressional delegation and county clerks across the state previously asked Trump to intervene on the issue.