A NY State Supreme Court judge issued a ruling Monday evening that Governor Kathy Hochul’s mask mandate in public places, imposed in mid-December, is unconstitutional.
Judge Thomas Rademaker wrote that Hochul doesn’t have the authority to impose such a mandate, and that mask mandates would have to be debated and approved by the state legislature to be constitutional.
The NY Legislature passed the Administrative Procedure Act in March in response to disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s pandemic measures, which Judge Rademaker now say causes Hochul’s mask mandate to be null and void.
In a statement following the ruling, Governor Hochul said she will explore all avenues to have the ruling reversed.
“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. “We strongly disagree with this ruling, and we are pursuing every option to reverse this immediately.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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9 Responses
Governors response in English: I will continue to find illegal ways and loopholes to deny New Yorkers the right to fresh air because controlling people is important in this pandemic and so is continuing this mask theater where we all pretend masks work even though science and reality tells us they do not
““My responsibility as Governor is to protect New Yorkers ” …that’s why NYC is such a jungle !!!!Great job protecting New Yorkers !!!!
If she truly cared about other New Yorkers other than herself, she would get rid of NYC DA Alvin Bragg.
Whose “we”….you mean you
“My responsibility as Governor is to protect New Yorkers” is not true. perhaps you could argue that is the job of the legislature, but everyone agrees the job of governor is to maintain the integrity and enforcement of the law (as passed by the legislature)
Same stupid mistake as the Biden administration in issuing Executive Orders under questionable statutory authorization rather than taking the additional time to issue a proposed rulemaking with notice and comment under the APA. In a growing percentage of these cases, the courts send them back to “start” and tell them to do it the proper way. Ultimately, they lose valuable time and it takes longer. Its not a judicial ruling on the merits of the rule, just a reminder that executives are bound in most cases to issue rules under proper APA procedure.
The Supreme Court in New York is a lower court. The matter won’t be settled until the Court of Appeals rules.
She can always ask the legislature to authorize a mask mandate.
“My responsibility as Governor is to protect New Yorkers”
Really?! I guess citizens being shoved to their deaths on the City’s subways is not her responsibility. I guess police officers being gunned down by black criminals is not her responsibility. Only a stupid, medically proven worthless mask, is her responsibility. Oh I see. Who gave this UNELECTED Karen the right to rule over us?!
Not Getting Involved.
After reading the article I was going to reply with the exact same words.