A federal judge in New York hit the brakes on her own ruling — just days after issuing it. U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas on Monday temporarily stayed her Friday order that would have forced the Trump administration to restore federal funding for the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project, giving the Second Circuit Court of Appeals time to weigh the government's emergency challenge.
The hold lasts until Thursday at 5 p.m. As reported by Newsmax, the Justice Department had warned that without it, the government would be forced to disburse up to $200 million by 1 p.m. Monday — a massive, irreversible outflow triggered by a ruling barely 72 hours old.
That the judge herself recognized the need to pump the brakes tells you something about the strength of the government's position.
The Hudson Tunnel Project, connecting New York City and New Jersey, carries a $16 billion price tag. The Trump administration froze federal funding for the project roughly four months ago. Judge Vargas's Friday ruling ordered that funding be restored — a sweeping intervention into executive spending decisions that the Justice Department immediately moved to challenge.
The DOJ filed an emergency request with the Second Circuit, arguing the disbursement timeline made the situation urgent. Judge Vargas agreed to stay her own order while the appeals court considers the matter.
This is a pattern worth watching. Federal judges issue dramatic orders compelling the executive branch to spend money on specific projects, and the ink is barely dry before the practical absurdity becomes apparent. A single district court judge nearly forced the federal government to cut a $200 million check over a long weekend — on a project the administration had deliberately paused.
The question isn't whether infrastructure matters. It's whether unelected judges get to override executive funding priorities on a timeline that makes meaningful appellate review impossible. Friday to Monday is not deliberation. It's a pressure campaign in legal clothing.
The Trump administration's freeze reflects a straightforward exercise of executive discretion over how and when federal dollars flow. Agree or disagree with the policy choice, the remedy for that disagreement runs through the political process — not through emergency orders that demand nine-figure payouts before the appeals court can even open a brief.
The stay expires Thursday at 5 p.m. By then, the Second Circuit will either have acted on the government's emergency request or the original order snaps back into effect. The administration has bought itself a few days, and more importantly, it has bought the appeals process the breathing room that the original ruling tried to deny it.
Judge Vargas's decision to stay her own order suggests she understood the position she'd created was untenable at the speed she'd set. The Second Circuit now holds the leverage — and the Trump administration has every reason to be confident that an appellate court will take a harder look at whether a district judge can effectively commandeer federal infrastructure spending on a holiday weekend timeline.
The tunnel can wait. The constitutional question of who controls the purse strings cannot be answered.