NY judge denies Governor Hochul’s bid to dismiss lawsuits challenging freeze on congestion pricing

MANHATTAN (CN) — A New York judge on Friday nixed Governor Kathy Hochul’s effort to dismiss a pair of lawsuits that challenged her decision to pause the implementation of congestion pricing in Manhattan.

Attorneys, reporters and curious New Yorkers filed into a packed Manhattan courtroom to hear arguments in the two cases — the first hearing since their inceptions in July. Outside of the courthouse, congestion pricing supporters demonstrated at a rally hosted by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a vocal proponent of the program.

Friday’s Article 78 proceedings addressed the Democratic governor’s motion to dismiss the two suits, which Hochul claims incorrectly assert that she violated state environmental laws and overreached her power in halting the program.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, the same state judge who handed down a massive civil fraud judgment against former President Donald Trump earlier this year, kicked off the roughly two-hour hearing with his signature wit.

“I got a ride into Manhattan today, and the traffic was terrible!” Engoron said theatrically, garnering a roar of laughter from the gallery. “Can’t anybody do something about that?”

For the plaintiffs, that “something” is congestion pricing, which they say should have been started months ago as previously scheduled.

“What the governor did here, it’s unbelievable,” said Dror Ladin, the attorney representing advocacy groups Riders Alliance, Sierra Club and the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance.

Ladin’s clients claim the program’s pause violated New Yorkers’ right to clean air and water, a guarantee added to the state constitution via a 2021 amendment. They also claim the move is a violation of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, a state law that requires officials to ensure their decisions help reduce carbon emissions in New York.

But Engoron on Friday questioned whether the plaintiffs in that case have proper standing, considering air quality affects all New Yorkers, not just the ones represented by the groups suing.

Ladin made it clear that his clients have “skin in the game.” He argued that if nobody could sue just because air quality affects everybody, the clean air initiatives in the state law and constitution could never be enforced.

The argument seemed to appease Engoron, who nodded from the bench.

Attorney Andrew Celli is representing the plaintiffs from the other suit, the nonprofit City Club of New York, who are challenging Hochul’s authority as governor to enact the pause in the first place.

The City Club says that Hochul lacked the discretion to pause the program at all. That responsibility, they argue, is limited to the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. They claim that the governor’s role in congestion pricing’s rollout was limited when Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, signed the plan into law in 2019.

“This is a back door of the highest order,” Celli said, claiming that granting Hochul’s dismissal motion would greatly and unjustly expand her role as governor to ax other laws she doesn’t like.

Ultimately, Engoron sided with the plaintiffs when he shot down Hochul’s effort to drop both cases from the bench in one fell swoop. He said that he’d be issuing a “much longer decision later” with more details.

“Motion to dismiss is denied,” Engoron said simply before adjourning the court.

Engoron’s skepticism was apparent from the jump. The judge scoffed at Hochul’s attorney Alan Schoenfeld when he insisted that the governor’s hold on congestion pricing was a “pause” as opposed to an all-out “block.”

“Oh, please,” Engoron said with a groan.

Both lawsuits were filed over the summer, roughly a month after Hochul announced she would be freezing congestion pricing before its planned start on June 30. Hochul said at the time that the program “risks too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers at this time,” despite having touted it as “transformative” in the past.

Hochul’s critics decried her last-minute about-face, calling it a shallow political move to ensure Republicans couldn’t weaponize congestion pricing to win close races in suburban New York.

Engoron pressed Celli on that issue Friday.

“Do you think the governor had political motivations?” the judge asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Celli said. “She doesn’t have the discretion. She doesn’t have the authority.”

Under New York City’s congestion-pricing plan, passenger vehicles would be charged a $15 toll when entering Manhattan below 60th Street, an area that includes Midtown and downtown, during peak hours on weekdays. The program was slated to bring in $1 billion per year to the Metropolitan Transit Authority to upgrade infrastructure and address budget shortfalls.

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