This doesn’t sound good.
A federal appeals court blocked a judge’s order that required changes to the controversial and discriminatory stop-and-frisk program implemented by the NYPD.
The judge who made that ruling has also been removed from the case.
According to the Associated Press:
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the decisions of Judge Shira Scheindlin will be stayed pending the outcome of an appeal by the city.
The judge had ruled in August the city violated the Constitution in the way it carried out its program of stopping and questioning people. The city appealed her findings and her remedial orders, including a decision to assign a monitor to help the police department change its policy and training program associated with it.
The appeals court heard arguments Tuesday on the requested stay.
The appeals court said the judge needed to be removed from the case because she ran afoul of the code of conduct for U.S. judges by compromising the necessity for a judge to avoid the appearance of partiality in part because of a series of media interviews and public statements responding publicly to criticism of the court.
The new decision is sure to cause some dissent among supporters of change. They believe that changes to the program would end the unfair practices and mold a more trusted police force for the people.
But opponents say changes would lower police morale, but not crime, waste money and not solve a broader problem of a police force under pressure after shrinking by thousands of officers during the last decade.
Stop-and-frisk has won another life, but one thing is for sure — this fight isn’t over.
SOURCE: AP | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
