Trump Team Accidentally Uploads Memo Dissing Its Own Case Against Congestion Pricing

Sean Duffy, Donald Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, would similar to termination New York City’s congestion pricing. Donald Trump’s Department of Justice doesn’t deliberation helium has overmuch of a case. We cognize that acknowledgment to an evident mistake connected the portion of the DOJ’s ineligible team, which uploaded and past removed an interior memo offering its sentiment that the effort to termination the tolls is “unlikely” to triumph implicit the court.

The 11-page document—uploaded Wednesday nighttime to the docket for the ongoing suit betwixt New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Duffy’s DOT earlier being taken down—was primitively sent connected April 11 to DOT’s elder proceedings lawyer Erin Hendrixson, advising her and her squad to alteration their attack oregon hazard losing their case.

The DOT is defending Duffy’s determination to declare the task illegal. Yet the DOJ warned Duffy’s actions to dismantle the task “was contrary to law, pretextual, procedurally arbitrary and capricious, and violated owed process”—none of which seems each that bully if you’re tasked with defending the validity of the actions successful court. As such, the DOJ’s attorneys concluded “It is precise improbable that Judge Liman oregon further courts of reappraisal volition uphold the Secretary’s determination connected the ineligible grounds.”

Given that the existent presumption seems to beryllium a loser, the Justice Department attorneys recommended DOT alteration tact and reason the toll doesn’t align with the agency’s goals and was canceled “as a substance of changed bureau priorities”—a presumption that is much legally defensible nether regulations acceptable by the Office of Management and Budget. According to Bloomberg, that statement fell level successful DOT offices.

Normally, each of that would hap down the scenes, and the parties would grit their teeth and determination guardant with a unified front. But past the DOJ went up and uploaded the papers by accident—a information it confirmed Thursday greeting successful a letter filed with the court that acknowledged it had inadvertently uploaded a privileged papers to the nationalist docket and asked the tribunal to permanently seal the document. “Although the contents of the papers person been made nationalist successful quality reporting, the papers was filed successful mistake and should not beryllium considered portion of the tribunal docket,” they wrote. The tribunal has alternatively opted to temporarily seal it, though it seems a small silly fixed however wide disposable the papers is astatine this point.

The DOJ copping to accidentally uploading the papers is simply a spot surprising. Luckily, the DOT’s behaviour is overmuch much connected brand. In a statement to Courthouse News, a spokesperson for the bureau rhetorically asked “Are SDNY lawyers connected this lawsuit incompetent oregon was this their effort to RESIST?” That aforesaid unnamed spokesperson called the mistake “legal malpractice,” and said, “It’s bittersweet to spot a premier ineligible enactment proceed to autumn into specified disgrace.” At slightest someone is connected the shot successful this mess!