The City Council and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams filed suit against Mayor Adams early Monday over his emergency order to suspend the central elements of a law passed in December barring solitary confinement at Rikers Island and other city jails.
The mayor signed the emergency executive order on July 27 that suspended elements of Local Law 42, arguing safety in the city’s jails was at stake. He had vetoed the bill in January, but the Council overrode his veto by a vote of 42 to 9.
The Council’s lawsuit argues the mayor violated New York State Executive Law 24, which states the mayor of a municipality can declare an emergency only in the event of an extreme situation — specifically, “disaster, rioting, catastrophe or similar public emergency,” or “apprehension” of those things.
The lawsuit alleges that no mayor in the city’s history has used emergency powers “as an end run around a local law,” adding that Adams never “identified an imminent emergency that required a swift unilateral response.”
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) called the order an “unprecedented abuse of power.”
“Mayor Adams’ decision to exceed his legal authority, simply because he was overruled, undermines the foundation of our democracy, and it must be invalidated,” she said.
In a statement, Amaris Cockfield, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said, “To be clear, solitary confinement was eliminated in city jails in 2019. To continue to protect public health and safety in Department of Correction jails, the mayor issued a narrowly tailored executive order focused on reducing violence in our jails. We will review the suit if and when it is filed.”
The Council lawsuit makes good on a resolution the Council passed July 17, 10 days before the mayor’s order, giving the legislative body the authority to “engage in legal action to defend” the law.
The Council expected the city administration to bring its opposition to the law before Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who is presiding over the Nunez class action lawsuit that led to the creation of the federal monitor tracking jail violence and staff use of force, the lawsuit states.
“Mayor Adams and [the Correction Department] never filed their promised motion with Chief Judge Swain,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, the mayor took matters into his own hands:”
On July 27, one day before the provisions of the law were to take effect, Mayor Adams signed the 11-page “Emergency Executive Order 625.”
The order said to protect the safety of jail staff and detainees, provisions of Local Law 42 would be suspended, including restrictions on emergency lock-ins, use of restraints and confining detainees in their cells for extended periods.
The order noted that the Correction Department told the Council that elements of the law conflict with court orders in the Nunez case, which the department is required to follow. The law would “remove key tools” needed to reduce violence and protect staff and detainees and would “likely result in an increase in violence” in the jails.
Mayor Adams based the order in part on a July 17 letter from the federal monitor tracking violence and use of force in the jails, which also argued the law could “exacerbate already dangerous conditions” and required study of how the changes would affect jail operations.
Speaking to the press July 30, the mayor defended the move.
“We don’t have solitary confinement in New York City,” he said. “That was a bait and switch where people took an emotional terminology and they put it out there, and all of us started buying on it.”
His then-legal counsel Lisa Zornberg insisted solitary confinement hasn’t existed in the jails since 2019. Zornberg resigned Sept 15, reportedly because the mayor would not heed her advice to fire top aides embroiled in the City Hall corruption scandal.
Public Advocate Williams said Sunday that the mayor was “desperately trying to maintain a status quo on Rikers that is dangerous to people on both sides of the bars.”
The emergency order was one of more than 200 jail-related emergency executive orders the mayor has signed in his nearly three-year tenure. The bulk of those suspended the so-called Minimum Standards, a set of detailed rules governing jail conditions.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, amid a massive uniformed staffing shortage, signed the first of those in Sept. 15, 2021. The orders had to be renewed every five days. After he took office in January 2022, Mayor Adams continued the practice, renewing it with his signature every five days.
The Council lawsuit more broadly could be seen as a challenge of the mayor’s use of emergency executive orders.
“The mayor’s illegal suspension of Local Law 42 sets a dangerous precedent for future mayors to abuse their emergency powers when they are dissatisfied with the outcome of lawful democratic processes and have lost a policy debate,” the lawsuit states.
In three years, Adams has signed 702 executive orders, many of the “emergency” variety — a higher rate than any other mayor. The bulk of those emergency orders involved Rikers and the large influx of migrants.
De Blasio used the tool 334 times in two terms, including many emergency orders for COVID-19, Hurricane Ida and those for the jails, records show.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg issued 465 executive orders in three terms, including 345 emergency orders chiefly related to an enduring strike at some bus lines and Hurricane Sandy, records show
Before that the tool was used more sparingly and rarely for emergencies, archival records show. Mayor Rudy Giuliani issued just 53 executive orders in two terms, including one emergency order for a transit strike. Just one executive order referenced the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Mayor David Dinkins issued 63 in one term with no emergency orders, while Mayor Ed Koch signed 125 in three terms including just three emergency orders — twice for needed housing repairs and once for the1980 transit strike.
Mayor Abe Beame, who served one term from 1974 to 1977, issued 97 executive orders, but just one emergency order — for housing repair.
Originally Published:
