Cuomo to Court Considering NYC Midnight Food Curfew: “The Government Is Not Required to Justify an Executive Order”

One by one, New York Governor Cuomo’s arbitrary, irrational rules are coming down. Last week, I wrote that challenges to a ban on advertising or ticketing music at restaurants was destroyed as a result of a pair of court challenges (one of which I argued). This week, a federal court in Brooklyn will hear arguments on another challenge I’m working on: the midnight food curfew.

What’s that? New York City finally just got the blessing of the Governor to resume indoor dining last week — well over 6 months after closing mid-March and likely last in the nation — with massive restrictions: 25% max capacity, air filtration upgrades, and a midnight closing time. Yes, for some reason, the Governor decided that it is only safe to be in a restaurant until the clock strikes 12, after which your risk of corona becomes excessively high. To clarify, this rule applies to restaurants — even those serving no alcohol — and applies even though only seated dining is allowed with full social distancing (no mingling, no dancing, no fun).

I filed suit on behalf of a Brooklyn restaurant to challenge this rule (which received some media attention, and a hearing on our motion for a preliminary injunction is tomorrow at 12:30 PM, public audio: (571) 353-2300, access code 188465608#. The written briefing on the motion went pretty normally… tl;dr: I argued that there’s no reason to subject NYC to restrictions that aren’t used elsewhere in the state or country, they argued that NYC is special because of it’s population, I replied that they failed to demonstrate why higher population means restaurants must turn into a pumpkin when the clock strikes 12. If you want the long version of that:

Columbus Ale House v. Cuomo – Motion for Preliminary Injunction (.pdf)

Columbus Ale House v. Cuomo – Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Opposition (.pdf)

Columbus Ale House v. Cuomo – Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Reply (.pdf)

It gets more interesting: the state included a declaration by Dr. Elizabeth Dufort, Director of Epidemiology for the NYS Department of Health, and the judge ordered her to appear at the hearing for questioning. This is perhaps the first time I’ve seen a judge take serious interest in examining the facts, seemingly triggered by Dr. Dufort’s apparent expertise in everything from how people behave in bars, to how restaurants handle arriving and departing guests, to the details of state law, to medicine (the latter of which I concede she may be qualified to discuss).

The government apparently did not like that order, and filed a motion for reconsideration, noting that Dr. Dufort was not available and that her testimony does not matter because “the government is not required to justify an executive order.” After a scathing opposition, they “found” the Dr. and withdrew their motion.

I very much look forward to asking Dr. Dufort some difficult questions tomorrow.