ACLU Lawsuit Puts Kibosh On New Driver's License ID Rules In New Jersey
By Suzanne Monaghan
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- Legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union has delayed New Jersey's new driver's license requirements.
Under the new rules, which were originally supposed to take effect today, people would have to show, in addition to proof of identity, proof of Social Security number and two proofs of residence -- and, if a passport is used for ID, it would have to be current.
(Under current rules, a recently expired passport could be used as proof of identity.)
But Ed Barocas, legal director for the ACLU of New Jersey, says the new rules would have created a system that is not safer but rather puts privacy rights at risk.
"The government of New Jersey would have taken these and taken them and warehoused all these documents, or scanned them and put them in a digital database," he notes, "and they'd be doing this all without even having completed a training manual for employees to know how to safeguard these documents."
Barocas says the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission had a legal obligation to provide notice to the public and give the public a chance to comment -- and he says that did not happen.
In a written statement, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission says, "It is our hope that this issue will be resolved as quickly as possible in the courts and we will be able to move forward with the necessary implementation plans."
