Nashville has secured a major legal victory in a high-stakes lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s abrupt freeze on federal infrastructure funding. A federal judge has ordered the restoration of more than $14 million in grants awarded to the city for key transportation projects, ending months of uncertainty for city planners and residents.
The case stems from a multi-city lawsuit filed in March by the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Public Rights Project in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Nashville joined five other cities and nearly a dozen nonprofit organizations in the challenge, seeking to block what they called an unlawful suspension of grant funding approved by Congress under the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
At the heart of the case were two Metro Nashville projects left in limbo: the ‘Electrify Music City’ initiative, awarded $4.7 million to expand electric vehicle charging stations, and the ‘East Nashville Spokes’ project, which received $9.3 million for building protected bike lanes and pedestrian walkways near the East Bank.
According to the original lawsuit, the federal government’s funding freeze upended both projects, despite their inclusion in the city’s Transportation Improvement Program and the broader ‘Choose How You Move’ transit plan. Metro Director of Law Wally Dietz criticized the freeze, saying it violated the constitutional separation of powers and undermined longstanding partnerships between federal and local governments.
On May 20, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. His opinion strongly condemned the Trump administration’s actions, stating that federal agencies had failed to justify or document the basis for canceling the grants. “Defendants have contended that the grants were individually reviewed and frozen or terminated for undefined ‘policy reasons,’” the ruling states, adding that discovery revealed no evidence of such reviews or rationale beyond political disapproval.
The court found the funding freeze not only breached legal obligations but also posed significant harm to the public interest. Judge Gergel ordered the federal government to reinstate the grants and report on its compliance.
The lawsuit named several high-profile Trump-era figures, including acting agency officials and Elon Musk.
For Nashville, the ruling is a critical win. “This lawsuit was about more than money,” said Dietz. “It was about standing up for the rule of law and ensuring that federal funds allocated by Congress reach the communities they were intended to serve.”
Other cities involved in the lawsuit, including Baltimore, Maryland and Madison, Wisconsin, are also set to receive reinstated funding for job training and housing improvement programs similarly disrupted by the funding freeze.
With the grants now back on track, Nashville officials say implementation of both infrastructure projects will resume immediately.
