The court's ruling Tuesday affirms State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling's decision in March that Mayor Bloomberg's 16-ounce limit on sodas and other sweet drinks arbitrarily applied to only some sugary beverages and some places that sell them.
The March ruling came just hours before the rule was to take effect.
Tingling said the Bloomberg-appointed Board of Health intruded on City Council's authority when it imposed the rule.
Because of the limits of city authority and exemptions made for other reasons, the ban on supersized beverages didn't cover alcoholic drinks or many lattes and other milk-based concoctions, and it didn't apply at supermarkets or many convenience stores — including 7-Eleven, home of the Big Gulp.
In defending the rule, city officials had pointed to the city's rising obesity rate — about 24 percent of adults, up from 18 percent in 2002 — and to studies tying sugary drinks to weight gain.
