A federal judge in Seattle has ordered the Trump administration to roll back an executive order freezing billions of dollars earmarked for electric vehicle infrastructure in a ruling that mentioned a charging station in San Diego — and also quoted an episode of “The Simpsons.”

The case centered on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, which is part of a mammoth infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. The program called for allocating $5 billion among states across the country to construct charging stations and help boost the deployment of EVs.

But upon taking back the White House in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy” that called for reviews of multiple energy and transportation policies, including federal spending for electric vehicles.

Days later, the U.S. Department of Transportation suspended the NEVI charging program and halted programs until guidance was updated.

Sixteen states, including California and Washington, filed a lawsuit arguing the Trump administration violated a law that was already on the books by withholding the money assigned to the NEVI program.

The case went before U.S. District Court in Seattle and on Tuesday, Judge Tana Lin issued a partial preliminary injunction that called for restoring the program’s funding.

Agreeing with the plaintiffs, Lin wrote, “When the Executive Branch treads upon the will of the Legislative Branch, and when an administrative agency acts contrary to law, it is the Court’s responsibility to remediate the situation and restore the balance of power.”

Lin mentioned that after the Department of Transportation suspended NEVI funding, a California state employee in March tried to access more than $310,000 owed on construction of a Tesla charging station in San Diego that was already underway. But the submission was met with an error message that read: “Request cannot be processed. One or more Program Code balances has been exceeded.”

Lin’s decision did not mention the specific location of the San Diego charging station.

The ruling has drawn extra attention because of the pop culture reference Lin used at the start of her 66-page decision.

“In a 1995 episode of ‘The Simpsons,’ ” Lin wrote, “Homer must cut short a tearful goodbye with his long-lost mother after her traveling companions protest that their ‘electric van only has 20 minutes of juice left!’ “

“Some 26 years later,” Lin said, “Congress sought to address the phenomenon that has come to be known as ‘range anxiety’: the unease experienced by electric vehicle (“EV”) drivers when they are unsure where the next charging station might be, and whether their car’s battery has sufficient charge to get them there.”

A Biden appointee, Lin has served as judge in the Western District of Washington since December 2021.

The Department of Transportation blasted the decision.

“Another day, another liberal judicial activist making nonsensical rulings from the bench because they hate President Trump,” a department spokesperson said in a statement that went on to say the NEVI program under Biden and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg “was a disaster and failed miserably to deliver EV chargers.”

Saying it’s “no secret that the Trump administration is beholden to the fossil fuel agenda,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office is pleased with the “order blocking the administration’s unconstitutional attempt to do so, and California looks forward to continuing to vigorously defend itself from this executive branch overreach.”

The ruling is not the end of the debate, however.

Lin placed a stay on her preliminary injunction until July 1 so the Department of Transportation can file an appeal to the Ninth Circuit, which is based in San Francisco. If an appeal is not filed by then, the injunction goes into effect on July 2.

The Department of Transportation says it is assessing its legal options.

While Lin said her decision applies to most of the states that filed the lawsuit — including California — the motion was denied for the states of Minnesota and Vermont as well as the District of Columbia.

That’s because Lin said the plaintiffs in those jurisdictions had not demonstrated specific examples of projects that had been delayed, canceled, “a budget thrown into chaos” or had requests for proposals withdrawn.

California has faced off the with Trump administration on multiple fronts.

Earlier this month, Trump signed three resolutions passed on Capitol Hill to prevent California from banning the sale of new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks in the Golden State by 2035. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bonta responded by filing a lawsuit saying Trump improperly used the Congressional Review Act to revoke California’s Clean Air Act waivers.

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