Hochul's mask mandate given stay by appeals judge after New York State Supreme Court ruled it 'unconstitutional'

A New York appeals judge on Tuesday has temporarily restored the statewide mask mandate imposed by Governor Kathy Hochul. The move was made a day after the state’s Supreme Court struck it down as unconstitutional. Judge Robert Miller granted the state a stay.

Per Spectrum Local News, the court will give a new hearing to New York Attorney General this Friday. While the governor argues for the "safety" of residents, those who oppose the mandate, along with Judge Rademaker who issued the ruling against the mandate, claim that the governor does not have the authority to mandate masks without the state legislature weighing in on the matter.

What makes the mandate unconstitutional per Judge Rademaker's ruling is that the governor's emergency powers expired in March 2021, when the legislature decided to take their rights back to represent the people of New York. When Hochul came into office in August after former governor Andrew Cuomo was forced from office amid sexual harassment scandals, the emergency powers for that office had already lapsed.

During the appeal hearing to stay the ruling, the legal representative for New York’s Department of Health argued removing the mask mandate would "radically disrupt the status quo." Those who brought the suit care more about the people's right to representation in the matter of legislation.

On Monday, the New York State Supreme Court initially struck down Kathy Hochul’s mask mandate. In their ruling they decided it went beyond the authorities of both the Governor’s office, as well as that of the state health commissioner.

For locations like New York schools it was set to expire next month anyway. For most of Tuesday there were conflicting statements from state officials as to if students had to continue wearing masks in the classroom.

Before the appeals court's latest ruling was made, schools tried enforcing a mask mandate anyway. Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik raised the alarm on Tuesday morning about the debacle.

The pending nature of the appeal’s filing by New York’s Attorney General Letitia James is what led to some of the confusion. James office said that they would appeal and that a stay would be granted before either the appeal was filed or the stay given.

Here’s the latest statement from the New York Governor’s office on the decision by the appeals court:

"As Governor, my top priority is protecting the people of this state. These measures are critical tools to prevent the spread of COVID-19, make schools and businesses safe, and save lives. I commend the Attorney General for her defense of the health and safety of New Yorkers, and applaud the Appellate Division, Second Department for siding with common sense and granting an interim stay to keep the state’s important masking regulations in place. We will not stop fighting to protect New Yorkers, and we are confident we will continue to prevail."

On the federal level, OSHA officially withdrew Biden’s vaccine mandate for private businesses after the Supreme Court issued a ruling against it earlier this month.