

The Supreme Court in New York is the highest trial court in the state, but not the court of last resort the Court of Appeal is the highest court.įollowing his ruling, some schools districts on Long Island began telling parents that masks were optional as of Tuesday morning. Justice Rademaker, who has run on the Conservative Party line, was elected to the Supreme Court in Nassau County in 2019. More than 130 people each day have been dying of the virus statewide. Hospitalizations have begun declining but remain higher than at any point since May 2020. The positivity rate has also fallen, by half, from more than 22 percent to 10 percent.īut New York’s daily case numbers remain far higher than at the start of the surge in early December, and hospitals are still straining to treat about 10,000 Covid patients statewide. An average of about 20,000 people in the state are now testing positive for the coronavirus each day, down sharply from the surge’s peak of 90,000 people who tested positive on Jan. The Omicron surge has been receding in New York, but it is not over. “My responsibility as governor is to protect New Yorkers throughout this public health crisis, and these measures help prevent the spread of Covid-19 and save lives,” she said.

Hochul said in a statement on Monday that her office strongly disagreed with the ruling and would be “pursuing every option to reverse this immediately.” City Hall officials, for example, said that the decision had no immediate impact on New York City’s schools since the city’s education department had its own masking policies in place before the state’s mandate. While the ruling overturns the statewide mandate for masks in schools and public places, it does not reverse local mandates. We will continue to do everything in our power to protect New Yorkers from #COVID19.- NY AG James January 25, 2022 We’re appealing last night’s decision that struck down the mask mandate in New York. Emily DeSantis, a spokeswoman for the state Education Department, said the department had informed its schools that, as the legal issues are resolved, “schools must continue to follow the mask rule.” The office of the state attorney general, Letitia James, filed a notice of intent to appeal the ruling on Monday night. Regardless of the “well aimed” intentions of state officials, such authority is “entrusted solely to the State Legislature,” Justice Rademaker wrote. Hochul and state health officials lacked the authority to enact the mask mandate without the approval of state lawmakers, and that it violated the state constitution.

In his six-page decision, State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Rademaker wrote that Ms. The state Health Department then extended the mandate an additional two weeks, to expire on Feb. Kathy Hochul had renewed a rule requiring masks or proof of vaccination at all indoor public places throughout the state in December, amid a winter virus surge, and said it would last a month. Ī New York State judge ruled on Monday that the state’s mask mandate had been enacted unlawfully and is now void, according to court documents. Read the latest on the ruling on a New York State mask policy. Subway passengers wearing masks in Lower Manhattan in December.
