U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor refused to block a New York City requirement mandating that public school teachers and employees must be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Sotomayor, appointed to the court by President Obama in 2009, denied a challenge from New York City teachers who were attempting to halt a mandate instructing them to be vaccinated by the end of the day October 1 or be placed on unpaid leave until September 2022.
News: Justice Sotomayor has DENIED a request by New York City’s public school teachers to block the COVID vaccine mandate. She did not refer it to the full court.
Application: https://t.co/oQTrMHk8j8
— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) October 1, 2021
NEW: New York City schoolteachers have filed an emergency request asking SCOTUS to block the city’s vaccine mandate for public school employees. Lower courts declined to block the policy. The filing is here: https://t.co/JbqNXZO60h pic.twitter.com/rurxE7WVQ1
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) September 30, 2021
Sotomayor rejected the emergency request without providing an explanation or directing the request to the full court for review.
Sotomayor’s ruling follows a similar move from her colleague on the court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who denied an emergency appeal from students at Indiana University in August and allowed the school to move forward with mandatory vaccinations.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday gave public education employees a Friday deadline to get partially vaccinated following a legal victory that said such a mandate could move forward.
In an interview with Spectrum News 1, the mayor said public school employees have until 5 p.m. on Oct. 1 to get at least the first vaccine dose.
“If you have not have gotten that first dose Friday, 5 p.m., we will assume you are not coming to work on Monday and you will not be paid starting Monday and we will fill your role with a substitute or an alternative employee,” he said.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.