(The Center Square) — A New York judge has ruled that NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his predecessor Eric Adams violated city law by not implementing a racial equity plan. 

In the ruling, state Supreme Court judge Phaedra F. Perry-Bond sided with advocates who sued the city over delays in implementing the so-called “racial equity plan” following ballot reforms overwhelmingly approved by the city's voters in the 2022 elections.

The law created a racial equity watchdog, called the Commission on Racial Equity, which also asked the judge to give them the authority to hire taxpayer-funded outside counsel to enforce the new requirements and sue people for discrimination. 

The Mamdani administration, which released a draft version of the plan in April, defended its work on racial equity issues and said a final report will be coming soon. 

“While the previous administration withheld the release of the Preliminary Racial Equity plan for more than 580 days, Mayor Mamdani prioritized the plan's release, putting it out in the first 100 days of the administration," City Hall said in a statement. 

CORE's Chairwoman and Executive Director Linda Tigani praised the judge's ruling in the lawsuit, saying it "reaffirms a fundamental principle: racial equity is not optional. It is the law." 

“The Racial Equity Plan cannot be delayed, diminished, or treated as a political exercise," she said in a statement. "The Charter created a process, established responsibilities, and set deadlines because New Yorkers demanded accountability." 

Tigani went on to say that the new plan, once finalized, should guide decision-making on how New York City spends $127 billion in public funds every year as part of its annual budget. 

"A budget of this magnitude cannot be separated from questions of racial equity," she claimed. "Where (the) government invests, where it disinvests, and which communities benefit from public dollars directly shape racial disparities in housing, education, health, public safety, economic opportunity, and generational wealth." 

Mamdani's draft plan calls for anti-racism training for all city employees, pay equity initiatives, and improving data collection on racial disparities across New York City's five boroughs. 

“The neighborhoods hit hardest by rent and the rising nature of it, by childcare costs and the suffocating manner of it, are the same ones that have been hit for years by institutional neglect and racism,” Mamdani claimed at an April press briefing after unveiling the draft report. " In that way, New York City's affordability crisis and its history of racial inequity are bound together." 

A draft of the racial equity plan was due in 2024 under former Mayor Eric Adams but it was never released. Adams stepped down in January after bowing out of his reelection bid. 

The wrangling over the equity plan comes as President Donald Trump has restricted diversity, equity and inclusion programs on the federal level, and as some companies and local governments have backed away from DEI initiatives amid public backlash.