A state-court judge has struck down a New York City program that was to go into effect on Tuesday and would have banned some Big Apple businesses, including restaurants and theaters, from selling sugary drinks like soda pop in supersize containers.
In a blow to the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had promoted the ban, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling said it didn't make sense and issued a permanent injunction, according to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal
In halting the drink rules, Judge Tingling noted that the incoming sugary drink regulations were "fraught with arbitrary and capricious consequences" that would be difficult to enforce with consistency "even within a particular city block, much less the city as a whole."
Judge Tingling also suggested that Mr. Bloomberg overstepped his powers by bringing the sugary drink rules before the Board of Health, which is solely appointed by him. The City Council, he wrote, is the legislative body "and it alone has the authority to legislate as the board seeks to do here."
"The loopholes in this rule effectively defeat the stated purpose of the rule," the judge wrote. (Read the full text of the ruling.)
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