"Flagrantly illegal": Judge kills Trump's effort to halt NY rail tunnel

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/nyregion/hudson-tunnel-trump-funding-judge-ruling.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

"A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to permanently abandon its efforts to suspend funding for a $16 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River, describing those attempts as “flagrantly” illegal.

Judge Jeannette A. Vargas of the Southern District of New York said that the administration violated federal guidelines when it stopped reimbursing the tunnel’s builders for their expenses in September. The suspension forced a shutdown of the construction project and led to a brief layoff of about 1,000 workers in New York City and New Jersey in February.

Federal officials said that the payments were stopped while the project’s hiring practices were reviewed. But Judge Vargas noted that President Trump had indicated in interviews that there were political reasons for stopping the tunnel project, which was a favorite of Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader from New York.

“We’re cutting a $20 billion project that Schumer fought for 15 years to get, and I’m cutting the project,” the judge quoted Mr. Trump as saying in October. “The project is gonna be dead. It’s just pretty much dead right now.”..... (more)