Lawyers for the Department of Transportation accidentally uploaded an internal memo detailing the federal agency’s plan to kill congestion pricing in New York — and admitting that the legal strategy is “very unlikely” to succeed.
The 11-page filing, which was posted on a court docket and then quickly deleted late Wednesday, lists the holes in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s legal arguments to stop the tolling program that hits drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street with a $9 fee.
The three government lawyers tasked with defending Duffy’s move did offer an other possible legal avenue to halt the scheme, but noted it, too, carried risks.
Duffy recently also warned Gov. Kathy Hochul there would be “serious consequences” — including the loss of possibly billions in federal funding for roadway construction projects in New York — if she continues to buck his order to stop the tolls.
The mistakenly-filed letter, dated April 11, cast doubt on Duffy’s argument that the feds have the right to pull approval for the first-in-the-nation scheme — which was given the green light during the Biden administration under a DOT pilot program.
“It is unlikely that Judge [Lewis] Liman or further courts of review will accept the argument that the [congestion pricing plan] was not a statutorily authorized ‘value pricing’ pilot under the Value Pricing Pilot Program,” the letter reads.
“We have been unable to identify a compelling legal argument to support this position,” the lawyers continued, citing numerous examples of courts giving local governments space to try “novel social and economic experiments.”
The attorneys were also skeptical about Duffy’s argument that congestion pricing violates federal law because it doesn’t offer a toll-free alternative for drivers.
And Duffy has pointed out that the toll amount was set based on how much money the state needs to raise for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — and not as a way to actually alleviate gridlock on Manhattan’s busiest streets.
“Neither of these reasons … is likely to convince the court,” the memo said.
“It is very unlikely that Judge Liman or further courts of review will uphold the Secretary’s decision on the legal grounds articulated in the letter,” the lawyers wrote.
Transit advocates were quick to celebrate the inadvertent sharing of the internal memo.
“Last night’s leak screams the quiet part loud. The feckless feds have no case against New York’s immensely successful congestion relief program,” said Riders Alliance policy and communications director Danny Pearlstein.
“Bus riders and drivers will enjoy faster commutes and subway riders will be winning reliable signals and accessible stations for a very long time to come.”
https://nypost.com/2025/04/24/us-news/fed-lawyers-cast-doubt-on-duffys-dubious-congestion-kill/WASHINGTON — The Department of Transportation announced Thursday it was sidelining prosecutors who claimed the agency’s move to eliminate congestion pricing in New York was “very unlikely” to succeed — after the feds mistakenly divulged their lack of confidence in a court filing.
The Manhattan attorneys have since been replaced by others in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, according to a DOT spokeswoman, who blasted the Southern District of New York for the “legal malpractice” of leaking internal deliberations about the tolling program.
“Are SDNY lawyers on this case incompetent or was this their attempt to RESIST? At the very least, it’s legal malpractice,” said spokeswoman Halee Dobbins. “It’s sad to see a premier legal organization continue to fall into such disgrace.”
“SDNY’s memo doesn’t represent reality. Kathy Hochul’s congestion pricing war against the working class was hastily approved by the Biden Administration after Donald Trump was elected,” she added.
“Taxpayers already financed the highways that Hochul is now shutting down to the driving public and there is no free alternative. This is unprecedented and illegal. If New York doesn’t shut it down, the Department of Transportation is considering halting projects and funding for the state.”
Three prosecutors filed the 11-page memo late Wednesday night and it was subsequently deleted from the docket.
The assistant US attorneys implied other slightly more viable avenues such “as a matter of changed agency priorities” could allow Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to end the $9-per-vehicle fee for drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street.
The Biden administration had greenlit the congestion tax as part of a DOT pilot program.
