An appeals court has reopened a trial on the constitutionality of surveillance conducted by the New York Police Department of Muslims, reports North Jersey.com.
In the decision on Tuesday, the appellate court wrote “What occurs here in one guise is not new. We have been down similar roads before. Jewish Americans during the Red Scare, African Americans during the civil rights movement, and Japanese Americans during World War II are examples that readily spring to mind.”
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2012 on behalf of 11 New Jersey individuals and groups and accused the police of secretly monitoring schools, mosques, restaurants and retailers. In 2014 the U.S. District Court dismissed the suit claiming the harm was caused by the Associated Press which reported on the surveillance and not the police who were trying to uncover terrorists.
The Appeals Court disagreed.
“No matter how tempting it might be to do otherwise, we must apply the same rigorous standards even where national security is at stake,” Circuit Judge Thomas Ambro wrote.
You can read reaction from the plaintiffs and the city of New York in North Jersey.com.
