Appeals Court Denies Stay In Milah Case

NEW YORK

A three-member panel of judges on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has turned down a request for an emergency stay blocking implementation of an unprecedented regulation of bris milah. In a two- sentence ruling, the judges said that “the motion is denied for failure to meet requisite standards.”

The request for an emergency stay was filed on January 15, only days after a lower-court Judge ruled against the lawsuit brought by the Satmar-affiliated Central Rabbinical America, the Chabad-affiliated International Bris Association and three mohalim who were seeking an injunction against a newly-enacted regulation.

This regulation requires mohalim to ask parents to sign a consent form which espouses the NYC Department of Health’s view associating metzitzah b’peh (MBP) with serious health risks, a position rejected by mohalim and leading medical experts.

This latest ruling was only in regard to the request for an emergency stay; the Appeals Court has yet to consider the request for the injunction.

Yosef Chaim Salazar, an attorney who practices in Baltimore and New York and is not affiliated with the case, told Hamodia that this most recent decision is not an indication of how the Appeals court will rule on the actual request for an injunction.

“It is very rare for an Appeals court to grant an emergency stay,” Mr. Salazar said. “I don’t think any conclusion should be drawn from this specific ruling.”

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