Judge orders Trump admin to restore electric vehicle funds to 14 states

(CN) — A federal judge in Washington state Tuesday said the Trump administration must reinstate billions in electric vehicle infrastructure funding to 14 states.

U.S. District Judge Tana Lin granted a preliminary injunction requiring the Federal Highway Administration to restore funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, which allocated $5 billion to states to build EV charging networks across the country.

The ruling is a win for most of the states that sued the administration in May, claiming it unlawfully froze about $2.74 billion in infrastructure funding already approved by Congress.

“Aside from the power of veto, the president is without authority to thwart congressional will by canceling appropriations passed by Congress,” Lin, a Biden appointee, wrote in her order. “Simply put, the president does not have unilateral authority to refuse to spend the funds.”

The dispute began in January, when the Trump administration issued an executive order directing agencies to pause disbursement of funds under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The highway administration later rescinded guidance for the NEVI program, revoked state deployment plans and froze the distribution of funds.

Created under the 2021 infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden, the NEVI program was designed to distribute $5 billion from 2022 through 2026 to support a national charging network and accelerate the shift away from gas-powered vehicles.

At a press conference in May, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration’s actions overstepped presidential authority.

“Once again, Trump’s actions go beyond the scope of his presidential power,” Bonta said. “We have always said the president has a great deal of authority … but he can only do lawful things. Not unlawful things.”

At a hearing earlier this month, Lin pressed government attorneys on the administration’s rationale for the funding freeze, raising concerns about Transportation Department guidance that appeared to go beyond EV infrastructure.

“How are vaccine and mask mandates related to electric vehicles?” she asked, referring to a department order that prioritized projects prohibiting such mandates.

When questioned about immigration enforcement provisions in the same guidance, government attorney Heidy Gonzalez admitted, “I’m not sure that it is” related to EV infrastructure.

Lin also expressed doubt over the administration’s claim that the funding suspension was only a “temporary pause.”

“What’s to prevent the secretary from just sitting on this for months or even years and just delaying issuance?” she asked. “It could just be a de facto refusal to disburse funds that were appropriated by Congress in the guise of an indefinite policy review.”

Ultimately, Lin affirmed that executive agencies must operate within the boundaries of authority granted by Congress, emphasizing that these agencies are established by law and cannot act beyond the powers delegated to them.

She also found that the plaintiff states would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction, writing: “Defendants’ funding freeze has caused, among other things, ‘disruptions to state NEVI implementation programs [and] delays in construction of infrastructure.”

The preliminary injunction applies to Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. The court denied relief to the District of Columbia, Minnesota and Vermont, finding they had not demonstrated irreparable harm.

The order directs the Federal Highway Administration to restore the legal status of approved state deployment plans, resume processing requests for fund authorization, and stop withholding funds for reasons not authorized by the infrastructure law.

The injunction is stayed until July 1 to give the federal government time to appeal.

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