diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITTransactionManagerAsyncTest.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITTransactionManagerAsyncTest.java
index 7b4f340f0b2..a9b048a3df0 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITTransactionManagerAsyncTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/it/ITTransactionManagerAsyncTest.java
@@ -81,6 +81,9 @@ public static Collection<Object[]> data() {
 
   @BeforeClass
   public static void setUpDatabase() {
+    assumeFalse(
+        "temporarily disabling these tests, since they are not working in the emulator",
+        isUsingEmulator());
     // Empty database.
     db =
         env.getTestHelper()