The legal dispute about frozen Gateway funding may stretch well beyond a federal district court hearing scheduled for Thursday, according to a veteran New Jersey transportation reporter.
Colleen Wilson, a journalist for The Record and NorthJersey.com, recounted how Judge Jeanette Vargas, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, heard oral arguments at 1 p.m. on Feb. 6 and six hours later had issued a decision. Vargas, ruling in a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration by New York and New Jersey, favored the two states.
“So that goes to show just how quickly this sort of thing can go,” Wilson told NJ Spotlight News. “On the other hand, a different judge in the circuit court could want to hear more. If the [federal] government can display enough need for more time, more documents, more anything, that process could really go out much further.”
Vargas ordered Trump to release congressionally approved funding for the $16 billion passenger rail tunnel project linking New Jersey and Manhattan, though gave the administration time to appeal. More arguments are expected on Thursday. In the meantime, almost 1,000 construction workers have been idled on the nation’s biggest infrastructure project.
New Jersey and New York’s lawsuit is separate from a case brought by the Gateway Development Corporation, which argues the federal government is in breach of contract by failing to release the funding. The commission did not seek the sort of immediate relief that the states had, and oral arguments in that case is scheduled for March.
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