Manhattan senator wants N.J. judge to give up congestion pricing lawsuit

An influential New York lawmaker who supports congestion pricing is trying to pressure a federal judge to recuse himself because of his alleged ties to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who has filed a lawsuit in a bid to stop New York’s plan to force New Jerseyans who go to midtown Manhattan to pay a $15-per-day tax.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who represents part of the west side of Manhattan, says that U.S. District Court Judge Brian Martinotti is conflicted because Murphy had once nominated his wife to a seat on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

“To protect the integrity of any judicial review of a program so vital to the tri-state region, these cases must be overseen by a fair and impartial judge whose probity is beyond reproach,” Hoylman-Sigal said in a letter sent on Wednesday to Renee M. Bumb, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for New Jersey and obtained by the New Jersey Globe.

Martinotti, a respected jurist who spent fourteen years as a Superior Court Judge before President Barack Obama nominated him to a federal judgeship in 2016, has been out of politics for the last two decades.

Martinotti has been assigned to the Murphy administration lawsuit and one filed by Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.

The letter puts Bumb in a potentially precarious spot.  If she removes Martinotti, it could offer the appearance that she bowed to political pressure from a New York state senator who could be judge-shopping to influence his interests in keeping congestion pricing in place.