Federal Appeals Court Halts Reform of NYPD's "Controversial" Stop-and-Frisk Policy

Stop-and-frisk, a law enforcement policy that works while helping law-abiding citizens with crime, has been labeled "controversial" by white liberals with no real interest in helping minorities overall welfare. Thankfully, common sense has prevailed over liberal terrorism and the policy been reinstated by a federal appeals court:

NBCNews.com:

A federal appeals court on Thursday put the brakes on a judge’s ruling that ordered New York City’s police department to reform its controversial stop-and-frisk policy — and even assigned the case to a different judge.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — postponing the lower court's ruling pending an appeal — agreed with New York City's bid to delay any reforms to the policy, which U.S. Judge Shira Scheindlin's ruled in August unconstitutionally violated the rights of minorities.  

The appeals court said that Scheindlin compromised the appearance of impartiality by encouraging a class-action lawsuit over the stop-and-frisk tactic and by giving media interviews in which she answered critics of her ruling, the court said.  

“Upon review of the record in these cases, we conclude that the District Judge ran afoul of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, Canon 2 ('A judge should avoid impropriety and the appearance of  impropriety in all activities.'),” the appeals court wrote (read the order here in PDF).

Scheindlin of Manhattan federal court had ruled Aug. 12 that NYPD's "stop and frisk" tactic amounted to "indirect racial profiling" and as implemented violates the constitutional rights of blacks and Hispanics. She cited the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and the 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.  

Scheindlin appointed an outside lawyer to oversee changes to the program and ordered a test in which officers would wear cameras in one precinct in each of New York’s five boroughs to record their encounters with civilians.  

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had vowed to challenge the judge's ruling, which he called dangerous, to the Supreme Court if necessary. He said that the city's police officers were following crime regardless of where it occurred.  

But Scheindlin noted that the overwhelming majority of stops in New York — 88 percent — result in no arrests or tickets. Four men had sued the city, saying that they were unfairly targeted by police.  

RELATED: NYPD's Kelly heckled off stage at Brown University over stop-and-frisk policy