NYMP Laws & Orders #8: Project Resist Gears Up for Legal Action, Court Restores WOC4EJ Fourth Amended Complaint, NYS & NYC Legislation Backs Reinstatement

Litigation and legislation to reinstate workers and bring accountability to government move forward as free speech advocates prepare to rally in DC while SCOTUS hears landmark case on Monday.

Project Resist launches new legal action to bring accountability to city government.

A new not-for-profit organization is gearing up to file a summary inquiry case under Section 1109 of the New York City Charter, demanding information and accountability from officials.

The group, called Project Resist, brings together attorneys Jimmy Wagner, Christina Martinez, and Sofia Balile to spearhead the legal action, along with some of the workers who lost their jobs under the City’s vaccine mandates. They have posted a sign-up form for New Yorkers who would like to join the summary inquiry as petitioners.

I’ll have more reporting for you about this effort soon, but you can get an introduction to it here from Project Resist’s media director, Rachel Maniscalco:

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Federal district court accepts Fourth Amended Complaint in WOC4EJ v. NYC.

In an order issued on February 23, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted a motion by attorney Jo Saint-George to vacate a February 14 order that had rejected her Fourth Amended Complaint filing in Women of Color for Equal Justice et al. v. The City of New York et al., and reinstated the Third Amended Complaint as the operative complaint.

The February 23 order reinstates the Fourth Amended Complaint as the operative complaint.

U.S. Supreme Court to hear oral arguments Monday in Murthy v. Missouri as free speech supporters rally in D.C.

The federal lawsuit that started out as Missouri v. Biden has made its way up to the Supreme Court, now named Murthy v. Missouri. This momentous case concerns whether the federal government can get involved in online content moderation by communicating with social media companies about posts and flagging them as containing “misinformation” or “disinformation.” The justices will hear oral arguments in the case on March 18.

A “Rally to Reclaim Free Speech” sponsored by the organization Children’s Health Defense and numerous other groups that opposed NYC’s vaccine mandates is set to begin at 9:00 a.m. on the Supreme Court steps. New York attorneys Sujata Gibson and Tricia Lindsay are on the list of speakers. CHD.TV will be livestreaming the event.

The Federalist Society will also be in D.C. giving commentary on the SCOTUS hearing on Monday afternoon, and the New Civil Liberties Alliance has a an online discussion of the case scheduled for Tuesday that anyone who wants to learn more about the case can sign up for.

New York State Senator Andrew Lanza and Assemblymember Jaime Williams sponsor bills to reinstate NYC workers; City Councilwoman Joann Ariola introduces resolution backing them.

ICYMI, FDNY Lieutenant Matt Connor gave a rundown of current legislative efforts to get New York City workers who were dismissed from employment under the mandates reinstated in my recent conversation with him. (Jump to just after the two-hour mark for that discussion.)

The reinstatement bills are New York State Senate Bill S7466A and Assembly Bill A9196, sponsored by Senator Andrew Lanza and Assemblywoman Jaime Williams, respectively. Both bills are currently in committee.

New York City Council’s Common Sense Caucus has backed the bills, with Councilman Joseph Borelli sponsoring New York City Council Resolution 0005-2024 in support of them. Councilwoman Joann Ariola announced the resolution at a February 8 press conference and introduced it in a City Council meeting later that day.

New York City Councilwoman Joann Ariola held a February 8, 2024, press conference at City Hall along with other members of City Council’s Common Sense Caucus, Bravest for Choice, and other City workers who were forced out of their jobs under the City’s mandates. Ariola announced a resolution backing New York State bills S7466A/A9196 to reinstate City workers. She introduced the resolution at a City Council meeting later that day.

Laws & Orders is a periodic dispatch from the New York Mandate Podcast that gives a rundown of recent legal, regulatory, and policy developments related to the pandemic and its aftermath, with a New York focus.