Judge orders Trump administration to temporarily release $2 billion in CTA Red Line funds

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily unfreeze approximately $2 billion in funding for the Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line Extension and Red & Purple Line Modernization projects.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin granted a request from the CTA for a temporary restraining order against the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration, which has frozen the funds since last October while it said it was reviewing the projects "to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting."

In his ruling, Durkin noted that when the CTA applied for federal funding for the Red Line Extension and Red & Purple Line Modernization projects, federal regulations required them to set goals for participation by subcontractors owned by women and minorities.

However, after the grants were awarded, the Trump administration set new rules eliminating such requirements, and Durkin ruled it was improper to retroactively apply new rules to grants that had already been awarded.

Durkin ruled that changing federal policy for issuing such grants "does not justify imposing penalties on the CTA for simply following former DOT regulations and federal law, which the President and the DOT have now changed."

"Retroactive application of a new policy is unreasonable absent some reasonable justification that Defendants have not offered here," Durkin wrote.

The judge added that freezing funding for the CTA's projects after changing the rules "failed to consider the impact of its decision on ongoing projects, reliance by contractors on promises of payments, and reliance by members of the public that public funds would be used in an efficient manner to complete public infrastructure in a timely fashion."

Durkin also noted that, out of hundreds of grants the federal government has awarded for various transportation projects around the country, the Trump administration suspended payment only to Chicago and New York after changing the rules regarding contracting goals for minority- and woman-owned companies.

"This limited enforcement indicates that the reviews for compliance with antidiscrimination laws are a pretextual basis for some other interest unrelated to actual compliance with Defendants' stated concerns," he wrote.

The CTA applauded Durkin's ruling in a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying without the judge's ruling, it would have had to halt work on the two Red Line projects on Friday.

"Today, the CTA secured a major victory for the Red Line Extension and the residents of Chicago's Far South Side. CTA promised the community that it would fight for RLE, and this ruling is a massive step toward restoration of funding for this historic project. RLE will provide transit access and opportunity for generations to come, and we are fully committed to seeing it move forward," said CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen.

Mayor Brandon Johnson also praised the ruling, accusing the Trump administration of "vindictive motivations" for freezing the funds.

"Trump said explicitly he would slash what he called 'Democrat programs.' Today's ruling is a victory not just for Chicago, but for every local government across our country who has been caught in the crosshairs of Trump's punitive attempts to take resources away from working families and punish communities who did not vote for him," Johnson said in a statement.

Durkin agreed to hold off enforcement of his temporary restraining order until 10 a.m. on Friday to give the Trump administration time to appeal his ruling.

The Red Line Extension project would extend the Red Line 5.6 miles further south to 130th Street, adding four new stations: 103rd Street and 111th Street near Eggleston Avenue, Michigan Avenue near 116th Street, and 130th Street.

The CTA will also build a new rail yard and related facilities near 120th Street.

The project is estimated to cost $5.7 billion total. The CTA has said it's committed to moving forward on the project even amid the Trump administration's attempt to halt funding for the project.