Not Even Trump Can Stop NYC's Congestion Pricing, Judge Rules

Based on the results of the first year, it's clear that New York City's congestion pricing program has been a massive success. In fact, not only did it improve life for the millions of people who live in NYC itself, it improved drive times in the suburbs outside the city, too. But not every opponent of congestion pricing believed it would lead to bad results. Some people just opposed it on principle, and no one opposed it more aggressively than the Trump administration. Unfortunately for them, the New York Times reports a judge just handed the Trump admin a loss in its court battle to stop congestion pricing.

On Tuesday, Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled that the Republican administration's attempts to force New York to end its congestion-pricing program were illegal. New Jersey and the Trucking Association of New York still have ongoing lawsuits challenging the program, so the legal battle to allow congestion pricing isn't completely over, but according to the legal experts who spoke with the NYT, neither lawsuit is likely to succeed at this point. 

While the federal government argued without evidence that congestion pricing would hurt the economy, Judge Liman reportedly struggled to accept the argument that the feds could revoke approval of the program. And in his ruling on Tuesday, he wrote, "It would be difficult to imagine a more definitive repudiation of contractual obligations by any party to any form of agreement than the repudiation and rescission set forth in the Feb. 19 letter," in reference to the administration's initial demand that it kill the program. 

Days after being sworn in, Trump vowed to end to the program and tasked "Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons" contestant Sean Duffy with making it happen as his Secretary of Transportation. Still, it's a lot easier for Trump to post, "CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!" than it is to make a convincing legal argument, and in April, a memo leaked, showing that even the government lawyers assigned to the case thought their legal argument was doomed to fail. 

As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority argued, the previous administration had already reviewed NYC's congestion program and signed off on it. And the fact that the new administration didn't like what the previous administration did didn't mean it could go changing previous agreements all willy-nilly. Ultimately, Judge Liman agreed, much to the relief of New York's lawmakers. 

According to Samuel I. Schwartz, chair of the transportation research program at Hunter College, in addition to lacking legal authority, the government's case was suspect from the beginning. "It was very odd for the federal government to try and stop a program that it invested no money in," he told the NYT. "That is unheard of." Schwartz also added, "Trump said it's dead and proclaimed himself king. That did not impress the judge." Clearly, it did not. 

"The judge's decision is clear: Donald Trump's unlawful attempts to trample on the self-governance of his home state have failed spectacularly," Governor Hochul said in a statement. "Congestion pricing is legal, it works, and it is here to stay. The cameras are staying on." Meanwhile, MTA CEO Janno Lieber was a little less charitable, saying, "Today — once again — Secretary Duffy failed and New York is winning."