It turns out that in New York courts, “dismissed as academic” is a standard legalese phrase, meaning “dismissed as moot” or, in lay language, meaning that the particular motion or requested relief is no longer relevant to the case (or wasn’t relevant to begin with). That’s us academics for you.
(An example: A common formulation in appellate decisions is, “Motion for leave to appeal denied. Motion for poor person relief dismissed as academic.” The “academic” means that, given that there’s no leave to appeal, the motion for a right to waiver of fees because the applicant lacks money to pay them is no longer relevant.)
UPDATE: Just to make it clear, I’m well-acquainted with the normal English phrase “that’s academic”; I just hadn’t seen it before as a legal term of art.