A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration acted “contrary to law” when it chose last year to withhold federal grant funding for a multibillion-dollar rail tunnel project between New York City and New Jersey.
The ruling, handed down by Judge Jeannette Vargas with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, vacated the administration’s Sept. 30 decision to freeze federal funding for the $16 billion Gateway tunnel project. The administration said at the time it was conducting an administrative review into whether diversity, equity and inclusion practices played into the contracting decisions for the initiative.
In her ruling, Vargas said the administration’s action to freeze the money “was contrary to law insofar as it suspended disbursements” to the project.
Vargas noted that the suspension of funds, announced just a day prior to a government shutdown last fall, suspended the federal payments “without any finding” that the Gateway Development Corp. “violated the law.”
