The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a notice putting the motion on the schedule for Wednesday, according to a spokesperson for the New York City Legal Department.
New York City Department of Education officials don’t expect a decision until Wednesday, press secretary Danielle Filson said. But the department remains confident that the mandate will be fulfilled “once all the facts have been presented, because this is the level of protection our students and staff deserve.”
Currently, more than 82% of Education Department employees are vaccinated, Filson said, “and we continue to urge all employees to get vaccinated by September 27.”
CNN has contacted de Blasio’s office for comment.
The plaintiffs’ request for an injunction in the case was dismissed Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Brian Cogan. According to his order, the plaintiffs had, in part, argued that the warrant violated their constitutional rights. But Cogan wrote that the mandate was a “rational political decision” that would help protect children during the pandemic.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On Friday, the temporary injunction was granted pending consideration of the petition by the three-judge panel “on an expedited basis.”
In a response filed with the circuit court on Saturday, the Education Department said the injunction “threatens DOE’s safe resumption of full school operations for the city’s nearly one million students – including hundreds of thousands are not yet eligible for vaccination “.
The response, shared with CNN by the city’s legal department, goes on to say that the injunction “also upsets the trusted interests of parents and caregivers across the city – who need clear and strong safety protocols when they send their children to the city’s public schools day in and day out. “
