State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Judge Rejects Settlement Over Surveillance of Muslims by New York Police Department

The New York Times: A federal judge has rejected the settlement of a lawsuit stemming from the New York Police Department’s surveillance of Muslims, saying the proposed deal does not provide enough oversight of an agency that he said had shown a “systemic inclination” to ignore rules protecting free speech and religion.

Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed in January to appoint a civilian lawyer to monitor the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism activities as a means of settling two lawsuits accusing the city of violating the rights of Muslims over the past decade. But the federal judge, Charles S. Haight Jr., in an opinion that was published on Monday, declared that the settlement did not go far enough for a department that had become “accustomed to disregarding” court orders.

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