Free Republic

The New York State Supreme Court on Monday struck down the Hochul Administration’s statewide mask mandate as unconstitutional and a violation of state law. Judge Thomas Rademaker of Nassau County wrote in his decision Monday the Governor does not have the authority to impose the mandate and the state legislature would have to debate and approve laws requiring masks in schools and other places. Last month, Governor Kathy Hochul enacted the mandate amid an increase in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant.

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York judge ruled Monday that the state’s mask mandate can’t be enforced, after it was reinstituted by Gov. Kathy Hochul over concerns about a winter surge of coronavirus cases. State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker said in his decision that the state Department of Health didn’t have the legal authority to implement the mandate, and that it was up to the state Legislature to do so if needed. The mandate “is a law that was promulgated and enacted unlawfully by an executive branch state agency, and therefore void and unenforceable,” the judge said. The...