The Biden administration argued in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that federal regulation of railroads preempts state laws regarding regulation of grade crossings

The assertion was made by U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar in an Ohio case that the high court is considering accepting on appeal.

The supreme court is considering hearing an appeal brought by the State of Ohio of an Ohio Supreme Court ruling.

The state made the appeal after the Ohio high court ruled that Ohio’s grade crossing law was unconstitutional.

The Ohio case stemmed from a 2022 case involving CSX trains blocking crossings in Marysville. The Class 1 railroad was cited numerous times for blocking crossings while switching at a Honda assembly plant.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is seeking to have the high court overturn the state court’s decision on public safety grounds.

That position has drawn the support of 19 other state attorneys general who want the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on whether Congress has granted the U.S. Surface Transportation Board sole jurisdiction over matters regulating crossings

Prelogar’s filing supports the Ohio’s Supreme Court decision that overturned the state law. The filing urges the court not to take the case.

The brief argues that lower courts have long held that state and local laws regarding blocked crossings are preempted by federal laws regulating matters of interstate commerce.

Yost and the other attorneys general have countered that those court rulings have misinterpreted the federal law, saying it established that the STB has jurisdiction over rates and practices but that federal law is silent on matters of safety.

Prelogar also argued in the filing that “Congress’s desire for national uniformity has remained steadfast even as its regulatory goals have evolved” and that the Ohio law “unreasonably burden[s] interstate commerce.

“Congress’s choice to provide funding to eliminate grade crossings rather than to specify its own blocked-crossing rule is consistent with its duel focus on deregulation and national uniformity.”

Ohio’s appeal has drawn support from the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen; and the Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys.

The labor groups argue that unless the lower court decision is overturned, states and the Federal Railroad Administration would be unable to regulate matters of railroad safety.