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The Manhattan attorneys have since been replaced by others in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, according to a DOT spokeswoman, who blasted the Southern District of New York for the “legal malpractice”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.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more information.
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