District Court Judge Lewis Liman in New York has upheld the legality of the congestion pricing program that New York instituted and the Trump administration has tried to shut down. Congestion pricing was conceived as a way to help fund the capital projects programs of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
Liman ruled that what Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has done to try to shut down the tolling program is arbitrary and capricious and cannot stand.
President Trump has been a vocal opponent of congestion pricing and had taken a position that it would harm the region’s economy. Congestion pricing was instituted for vehicles entering Manhattan’s Central Business District below 60th Street.
The judge decided not to issue a permanent injunction to block the administration from ever being able to shut down the program, leaving open the door for it to try to find a way to do it.
Liman’s March 3 ruling, which covered 147 pages, came in a lawsuit that had been filed on Feb. 19, 2025, by the MTA and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. The defendants in the lawsuit were Transportation Sean Duffy, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Executive Director of the Federal Highway Administration Gloria Shepard along with the Federal Highway Administration.
On May 28, 2025, the judge had issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the defendants from interfering with the tolls.
In the March 3 decision the judge said that the plaintiffs are entitled to a summary judgment in part because Duffy’s decision to shut down the tolls was arbitrary and capricious at the time he made it and the ways in which he tried to rationalize it after the fact also were arbitrary and capricious.
Judge Liman said that Duffy was wrong when he argued as a defendant in the lawsuit that because he had the legal power to establish a program such as the one New York asked him to endorse he also has the power to knock out such a program.
“The Secretary has discretion to enter into a cooperative agreement with a state government in the first instance. It does not follow, however, that the only projects that the Secretary may enter into are projects that he also can unilaterally terminate at any time and for any reason,” Judge Liman said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reacted to the decision by saying, “The judge’s decision is clear: Donald Trump’s unlawful attempts to trample on the self-governance of his home state have failed spectacularly. Congestion pricing is legal, it works, and it is here to stay. The cameras are staying on. I have been clear from day one: my administration will fight any unlawful effort by the Trump administration to attack the sovereignty of New York state with everything we’ve got. Today, we won again.”
MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said, “We’ve said it all along, and Judge Liman’s clear, detailed ruling leaves no doubt: congestion pricing is legal. It’s here to stay. And it works. Traffic is down, business is up, and we’re making crucial investments in a transit system that moves millions of people a day. Today — once again — Secretary Duffy failed and New York is winning.”
