Federal judge tosses lawsuit against NY visitor quarantine
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JULY 25: A sign displaying COVID-19 travel advisory above a road in Queens as the city continues Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus on July 25, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by
NEW YORK - A federal judge threw out a lawsuit by an Arizona woman who claimed New York’s 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers from hotspot coronavirus states infringed on her “fundamental right to travel.”
A federal judge threw out a lawsuit by an Arizona woman who claimed New York’s 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers from hotspot coronavirus states infringed on her “fundamental right to travel.”
U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd on Tuesday became at least the second federal judge to rule against challenges to the quarantines first ordered by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June. The advisory currently covers travelers from 31 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Cynthia Page filed the suit last month, claiming it unfairly stopped her from visiting Brooklyn and helping friends pack up belongings in a house they were preparing to sell. Page asserted that Cuomo's executive order and the quarantine rules made the trip impossible, which “was and continues to be very upsetting,” according to court papers.
In dismissing the lawsuit, Hurd wrote that people from restricted states remain free to enter New York.
“And whether resident or non-resident, any traveler who completes the quarantine remains completely free to travel freely within the State itself,” Hurd wrote.
COVID TRAVEL ADVISORY LIST FOR NY, NJ, CT
Page informed the court Tuesday she would appeal.
Page’s lawyer, David Yerushalmi, told The New York Post he thought the judge’s decision “was thoughtful but wrong.”
“Judge Hurd has responded out of the fear of the pandemic but has ignored basic constitutional law,” he said.