ESCONDIDO ---- The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's decision Tuesday saying that cities, including Escondido, have the authority under state law to impound cars for up to 30 days when people are caught driving without a license.

Civil rights attorneys filed the lawsuit in March 2007 on behalf of about 20 plaintiffs, including two people whose cars were impounded by Escondido police, and named then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, and the cities of Riverside, Escondido, Maywood and Los Angeles as defendants.

The plaintiffs argued that the state's mandatory 30-day impound law was unconstitutional because it constituted an unreasonable seizure. The court disagreed.

In 2008, U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero ruled that taking a vehicle temporarily is within the spirit of the law and is necessary to protect the health and safety of "Californians from the harm of unlicensed drivers."

However, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals also ruled that some of the cars may have been illegally impounded if authorities "driven by individuals with licenses that had merely expired or had been issued by a different jurisdiction."