Lawyer Loses Driver’s License Over Delinquent California Taxes

California can suspend the driver’s license of an attorney who hadn’t paid his state taxes in almost 20 years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said April 11.

The state laws that establish a list of the top 500 delinquent state taxpayers and allow the state to suspend the driver’s licenses of those on the list is constitutional, the opinion by Judge Barrington D. Parker, sitting by designation, said.

Attorney Ernest J. Franceschi Jr. owes California $242,276 in back taxes and is on the list. Franceschi claimed the scheme violates his procedural and substantive due process and ...