Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his predecessor Mayor Eric Adams both violated the law when they failed to release a plan on time to combat racial disparities across the boroughs, a state Supreme Court judge ruled Tuesday.
The so-called “racial equity plan” is required under ballot reforms overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2022.
Judge Phaedra F. Perry-Bond’s decision comes in response to a lawsuit filed in August 2025 by the city’s racial equity watchdog, the Commission on Racial Equity, which was also formed under the 2022 ballot measures. Perry-Bond’s decision also grants CORE the opportunity to retain outside counsel paid for by the city, which was previously denied by the city’s law department.
Spokespeople for Adams and the Mamdani administration didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tyrik Washington, a political communication strategist for CORE, said that the ruling affirms that the racial equity plan is required by law and CORE’s ability to hold mayoral administrations accountable.
“This [plan] is not something that has to do with political comfort,” Washington said. “This is not a feel-good exercise. This is law – that a lot of people hit the streets to demand, including the mayor.”
After both mayors failed to meet charter-mandated deadlines, Mamdani released the city’s first-ever draft racial equity plan in April.
The draft includes orders for city agencies to provide resources to historically underserved communities, improve recruitment and retention of workers across demographics, provide anti-racism training for city staff, and improve data collection across various demographics, among other goals. A final version of the plan, originally due in April 2024 under Adams, has still not been released.
A version of the plan was completed by the end of Adams’ tenure, but it was never released, Gothamist previously reported. Officials from Adams’ administration previously said the extra time was necessary to take on such ambitious, “large-scale, unprecedented” work.
While the charter has no consequences for failing to release the racial equity plan, Perry-Bond’s decision gives CORE the authority to sue for future delays.