{"id":217555,"date":"2026-05-02T10:50:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T10:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/217555\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T10:50:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T10:50:43","slug":"congestion-pricing-trump-admin-appeals-federal-judges-ruling-halting-its-efforts-to-end-manhattan-toll-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/217555\/","title":{"rendered":"Congestion pricing: Trump admin appeals federal judge\u2019s ruling halting its efforts to end Manhattan toll program"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Sean Duffy, via the Justice Department, on Friday filed a notice of appeal to U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman\u2019s March 3 decision in favor of the MTA.<\/p>\n

The feds filed their appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Defendants hereby appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from this Court\u2019s Final Judgment entered on March 5, 2026 (ECF 196) and all orders and opinions merged into the judgment, including but not limited to the opinion and order entered on March 3, 2026 (ECF 195),\u201d the appeal reads.<\/p>\n

However, more detailed court documents laying out the argument behind the administration\u2019s appeal were not immediately available.\n<\/p>\n

USDOT spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.\n<\/p>\n

In response to the filing, MTA Chief of Policy and External Relations John McCarthy touted the program\u2019s success<\/a>, while daring Duffy to face off against the MTA in court once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongestion pricing is working \u2013 fewer cars, less pollution, faster commutes,\u201d McCarthy said in a statement. \u201cSecretary Duffy has already lost in court, and if he wants to see us there again, let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SeanU.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been an outspoken opponent of congestion pricing, and has ordered the state repeatedly to shut the program down \u2014 to no avail.REUTERS<\/p>\n

Congestion pricing charges drivers a $9 base toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.<\/p>\n

In addition to reducing congestion and pollution, the program is\u00a0raising revenue<\/a> for the MTA to fund major capital improvements across\u00a0its subway, bus, and commuter rail systems. The agency has already funded several projects with congestion pricing revenue, including signal system modernization<\/a> on the A and C lines in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Danny Pearlstein, head of policy and communications for the transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, an intervening plaintiff in the case, also lauded congestion pricing\u2019s effectiveness in a statement. At the same time, he slammed the Trump administration\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillions of public transit riders are sick and tired of the vengeful MAGA bureaucracy wasting our tax dollars on a failed lawsuit and waging a zombie culture war for their fossil fuel billionaire patrons,\u201d he said. \u201cCongestion relief is winning daily on our streets and in the courts. Historic upgrades to subway reliability and accessibility are moving forward thanks to New York\u2019s success with the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Liman\u2019s March ruling, he wrote that USDOT\u2019s attempts to terminate congestion pricing, through a series of letters to New York State and the MTA ordering them to shutter the program, were unlawful. Specifically, he said Duffy did not have the authority to unilaterally void a contract signed by his predecessor, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, under ex-President Joe Biden in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Secretary\u2019s actions were arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law. Accordingly, his actions purporting to terminate that agreement, including the February 19 letter and the April 21 letter, are vacated,\u201d Liman wrote in his decision. \u201cPlaintiffs are thereby relieved of the obligation to cease tolling operations. Plaintiffs are restored to their position prior to the issuance of the February 19 Letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MTA first brought the suit in February 2025, just hours after Duffy ordered it to end congestion pricing.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Sean Duffy, via the Justice Department, on Friday filed a notice of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[748,31766,6920,43001,75,84,83,141,9,24,63,14328,80644,17899,6159],"class_list":["post-217555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-congestion-pricing","tag-danny-pearlstein","tag-john-mccarthy","tag-lewis-liman","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-riders-alliance","tag-u-s-court-of-appeals-for-the-second-circuit","tag-u-s-secretary-of-transportation-sean-duffy","tag-usdot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}