The Adams administration has joined the MTA’s lawsuit looking to block President Trump from squashing the controversial tolling plan.
Both the city and state Departments of Transportation on Friday signed onto the legal case that the MTA filed back in February after the White House made moves to axe the $9 Manhattan tolls.
“Despite the Administration’s ‘royal’ decree, its effort to summarily and unilaterally overturn the solution to the City’s congestion enacted by New Yorkers’ elected representatives is unlawful and invalid,” a joint complaint states.
“Accordingly, Congestion Pricing remains alive and well, and the MTA and TBTA responded by filing this lawsuit seeking a declaration that the Administration’s actions are null and void and for vacatur of the purported ‘rescission’ and ‘termination.’”
The Riders Alliance and the Sierra Club have also joined the complaint, as well as filed a separate one against the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.
“In case there were any doubts, MTA, State and City reaffirmed in a court filing that congestion pricing is here to stay and that the arguments Secretary Duffy made trying to stop it have zero merit,” said John J. McCarthy, the MTA’s chief of policy and external relations, told Politico.
Mayor Adams, who has grown close with Trump in recent months but remained lukewarm on congestion pricing, has not publicly commented on his administration’s involvement in the legal battle.
The Adams administration signed on just two weeks after the mayor’s historic corruption case was dropped. Critics speculated that Adams was cozying up in hopes of obtaining a presidential pardon before a judge tossed the case.
City Hall did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The MTA and the White House earlier this month reached an agreement that congestion pricing can remain in effect through the fall as a judge weighs the fate of the new program.
But the administration later told the court it was still evaluating its options if NYC does not comply and has reached “no final decision” what, if anything would happen on the April 20 deadline.
Trump, however, has pushed for the MTA to stop tolling drivers before May.
Congestion pricing was rolled out in January, and was almost immediately targeted by Trump.
In a February Truth Social post, Trump declared: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
“The President is not a king, and Defendants have no right to demand compliance with the Administration’s unlawful directives,” the lawsuit fires back.
“Plaintiffs will continue to operate the Program as required by New York law unless and until Plaintiffs are directed to stop by a court order.”
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