By Rich Bockmann
Days after Mayor Michael Bloomberg vehemently blasted what he called a “very dangerous decision,” the city’s Law Department Friday filed notice it plans to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk was unconstitutional.
Steam shooting from his ears was pretty much the only thing missing from Bloomberg’s impassioned news conference Monday hours after Manhattan District Judge Shira Scheindlin appointed an independent monitor to oversee the NYPD’s reforms to the controversial policies she ruled to be unconstitutional.
“This is a very dangerous decision by a judge that I think just does not understand how policing works and what is compliant with the U.S. Constitution as determined by the Supreme Court,” Bloomberg said as he vowed to appeal the decision.
Four days later, the city’s legal department filed notice with the Manhattan federal court that it planned to bring the mayor’s case to the Second Circuit appeals court.
Beyond the notice, details of the specifics of the appeal were scant. At the news conference earlier in the week Bloomberg said he took issue with several public statements Scheindlin made both prior to and during the trial.
After the district court forwards a copy of the notice, the next step is for the city to ask the appeals court to step in and stay Scheindlin’s orders while the challenge is being considered.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, the civil-liberties group that argued the lawsuit challenging stop-and-frisk, released a statement expressing disappointment at the administration’s decision.
“New Yorkers have denounced these tactics for over a decade and now the federal court has spoken,” the statement read. “It is time for Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly to do the right thing and listen to and address these concerns.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
