The liberal justice denied Detective Anthony Marciano's request for a stay of the vaccination requirement while an appeal over his claims continue in a lower court. A federal judge threw out Marciano's case in March.

Sotomayor is the justice designated by the court to act on some matters arising from New York and certain other states.

Marciano argued that neither state nor federal law allows government officials to impose vaccines on adults without "informed consent," telling the justices in a legal filing that "he cannot and will not assume the health risks associated with an illegal, experimental" vaccine that he "does not need."