‘Fair is fair’: NYC mayor’s migrant bus lawsuit deemed ‘unconstitutional’

It would appear that New York City Mayor Eric Adam’s bus lawsuit is dead in the water.

In January, Adams filed a suit against 17 bus companies that were used to transport immigrants from Texas to New York as the city sought injunctive relief. On Monday, the lawsuit was laid to rest by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Mary Rosado,

“This is a plain attempt to regulate the transportation of indigent persons from State to State in violation of the Interstate Commerce Clause,” the decision reads.

“The Court finds that it cannot grant the Commissioner’s request for injunctive relief as the merits of her claim are dubious at best given myriad constitutional concerns.”

Lisa Zornberg, Chief legal counsel to the mayor and City Hall, conceded that the city will respect the ruling of the court, but argued that the “pauper statute” the lawsuit was based on “hadn’t been ruled on, whether that law was constitutional or not.”

The statute in question was designed to prevent people from bringing others to the state “for the purpose of making him a public charge.”

“That lawsuit that we brought, which I’m very proud of, was really about using every tool in New York City’s toolbox to protect New York City’s social service system and New Yorkers,” Zornberg explained. “That’s what that lawsuit was.”

Attorney for the bus companies, Robert Hantman, praised Rosado “for her objectivity and integrity in following the law and ignoring political considerations.”

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