A group of civil rights advocates has filed a federal class-action lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s suspension of more than 250,000 driver’s licenses affecting people too poor to pay traffic tickets, reports the Nashville Ledger.
Attorneys with Washington, D.C.-based Civil Rights Corps, the National Center for Law and Economic Justice in New York City, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz law firm of Memphis and Just City of Memphis have filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Nashville claiming the suspensions are made without “basic constitutional protections” and prevent tens of thousands of Tennesseans from having transportation to jobs, health care, child care and other fundamental needs.
The group of attorneys also contends the driver’s license suspensions raise racial injustice concerns because African-American motorists are four times more likely to lose their licenses than white drivers for failing to pay traffic tickets.
…“I see the destructive nature of this failed public policy nearly every day,” says Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, a nonprofit legal group. “Already struggling against poor mass transit and limited job opportunities in their neighborhoods, people are forced to drive across town to find work.
“Getting caught means hundreds of dollars in costs and fines and potentially jail. Not driving means not working.
“This destructive public policy does nothing except erode our workforce and criminalize poverty,” Spickler adds. “We look forward to challenging this in court and bringing some much-needed relief to Tennessee’s working families.”
The lawsuit states Tennessee has suspended more than 250,000 driver’s licenses over the last five years for non-payment of fines, court costs and litigation taxes arising from driving offenses and traffic citations.
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