Supreme Court Rejects Request to Block New York City COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

A COVID-19 vaccine is administered in in New York City on April 8, 2021. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Oct. 11 turned down a request from a detective to block New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for municipal workers.

Anthony Marciano, a New York Police Department detective, sued the city over the mandate, which applies to all city employees.

A New York Supreme Court judge blocked the mandate in late December 2021 but that temporary restraining order was dissolved by an appeals court, prompting Marciano to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

Marciano’s first emergency application was rejected by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an Obama appointee. He refiled in September. The new application made it past the initial stage when Justice Clarence Thomas, a George H.W. Bush appointee, distributed it to the full court.

But five or more justices on Tuesday rejected the application, which sought a preliminary injunction against the mandate.

The court does not identify how each justice acts on applications for injunctions nor does it list the vote count but under court rules, if the full court considers an application, five justices must agree in order for the court to approve a temporary block.

Marciano had asked the nation’s top court to intervene as proceedings continue in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

“We will continue in the Second Circuit with the case, and move our way up the ladder again if needed,” Patricia Finn, a lawyer representing Marciano, told The Epoch Times in an email. “We are optimistic about moving forward and expect to reach the Supreme Court in the near future and obtain a favorable ruling.”

According to Finn, the sought-after injunction may have become moot when the New York Supreme Court ruled Sept. 23 that the city’s vaccine mandate, as it applies to members of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), a police union, was “invalid.”

A spokesman for New York City did not respond to a request for comment. The city is set to end its mandate for private workers on Nov. 1 but has announced no date for ending the public worker mandate.

Marciano asked the Supreme Court to step in because he has remained unvaccinated but said a looming deadline meant he either had to get a vaccine or be fired.

Marciano has said he filed a religious request for an exemption from the mandate but that officials denied the request. An appeal of that denial is still pending.

The appeal “will likely be denied along with nearly every other exemption request and appeal, given that the City has denied 99% of all religious and medical exemptions for municipal workers to the [Emergency Use Authorization] Covid 19 vaccination thus far,” the application for injunction stated.