A federal appeals panel on Monday ruled in favor of New York City’s vaccine mandate for teachers and other Department of Education staffers in public schools, just hours before it was scheduled to begin. Plaintiffs, a group of teachers, had asked for a temporary injunction against the mandate, which requires all workers to show proof that they’ve received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, stating that it violated the U.S. Constitution’s Due Process Clause. That clause states in part that no state can “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” On Sept. 24, a federal judge granted the request to temporarily block it, and a three-judge panel had been scheduled to hear the case this coming Wednesday. But in a surprise turn of events, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan issued its ruling Monday evening instead, dissolving the prior injunction without providing any further explanation as …