Another judge obliterates Trump’s 'massive' attack on blue states

The Chicago Sun Times reports U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin has joined the army of federal judges dismantling President Donald Trump’s targeting of blue states.

In a decision likely to infuriate federal officials, Durkin granted the Chicago Transit Authority’s temporary restraining order against Trump’s Department of Transportation, which had frozen $3 billion in funds since last October over so-called race- and sex-based discrimination — which local directors describe simply as inclusive DEI policies.

“The CTA sued the Department of Transportation last week, arguing the funding freeze would soon halt the long-planned Red Line extension to 130th Street, as well as the almost-completed Red-Purple Line Modernization program,” reports the Times. “The CTA had secured a legal obligation for $2 billion in federal Red Line extension funds shortly before former President Joe Biden left office.”

Trump’s freeze was close to halting work on Chicago’s Red Line extension as soon as Friday if federal funds remained frozen according to CTA lawyers.

"[U]nless this Court grants relief prior to this Friday ... hundreds of workers will soon be out of jobs and CTA’s ongoing projects will be jeopardized,” the CTA wrote in its filing.

Chicago Transit Authority Acting President Nora Leerhsen lauded the Tuesday’s ruling as a major victory for city residents.

“CTA promised the community that it would fight for [the Red Line extension], and this ruling is a massive step toward restoration of funding for this historic project,” Leerhsen said in a statement

Durkin joins other judges that have ordered Trump to release funding for expensive blue state road infrastructure projects, including a massive project connecting New York and New Jersey, after Trump tried to use the funding to pressure the states to put his name on major travel centers.