U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Friday blocked a challenge to New York City's vaccine requirement for public school teachers and employees, allowing the mandate to remain in place.
Why it matters: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in August that all 148,000 staff members of the largest U.S. school district would need to submit proof of at least one dose of a COVID vaccine or risk unpaid leave until September 2022.
- The deadline was pushed to 5 p.m. EDT on Oct. 1 after a lower court temporarily blocked the order.
- With the order now lifted, a group of four teachers and teaching assistants petitioned the Supreme Court to bar enforcement of the mandate while litigation is ongoing in lower courts.
- Sotomayor rejected the emergency request without providing an explanation. She also did not refer the case to the full nine-member court for review.
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett made a similar decision in August when she rejected a request to block Indiana University's vaccine mandate.
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