Biden-Appointed Judge Orders Trump To Keep Throwing Money At EV Chargers

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars in funding for electric vehicle (EV) charger infrastructure from 14 states.

U.S. District Judge Tana Lin partially granted a preliminary injunction that was intended to unlock funding for the EV charger buildout. The ruling comes after President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation (DOT) in February announced that it was halting billions of dollars in funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, a $5 billion dollar program that was established by the Biden administration to install a network of EV chargers across the United States.

In May, 16 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for withholding the funds for the buildout of new EV chargers, alleging the administration did not have the authority to withhold the funds.

“Congress appropriated $5 billion to fund a National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (‘NEVI’) Formula Program, the purpose of which was — and still is — ‘to strategically deploy electric vehicle charging infrastructure and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability,’” according to Lin’s order.