Federal Judge Temporarily Stops Shutdown of Congestion Pricing by Trump
By Mark Hallum May 27, 2025 3:19 pm
reprints
Congestion pricing continues to be a courthouse survivor as a federal judge has placed a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration’s attempts to end the tolling program in Manhattan.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman put a halt to President Donald Trump’s order that the state and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority end congestion pricing, adding that the White House cannot retaliate against the toll cameras staying on by withholding federal funding.
“We need to make the massive investments necessary to support our transit system and prevent it from falling into disarray and disrepair,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Tuesday. “So here’s the deal: [Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy] can issue as many letters and social media posts as he wants, but a court has blocked the Trump administration from retaliating against New York for reducing traffic and investing in transit.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration first made moves to revoke federal approval of the tolling program — originally rubber-stamped by former President Joe Biden during his last weeks in office — back in February, claiming that it was a “slap in the face” to working-class motorists being charged an average of $9 to drive through parts of Manhattan.
Hochul’s response was rapid. She told the federal government that the cameras above the entry points to Manhattan’s central business district would remain operational until a judge ordered the state and the MTA to end the congestion pricing.
After hearing oral arguments from the state and the MTA on Tuesday, Judge Liman issued the temporary restraining order and said the MTA’s case to keep the program running “showed a likelihood of success,” The New York Times reported.
The MTA has long planned to use the $15 billion provided to the agency under the program to make critical upgrades to the aging transit system, and argued it has already gone through plenty of federal review before the project started in January.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
