On June 18, 2013, plaintiffs, a group of Muslim residents of New York City, as well as two mosques and a charitable organization called Muslims Giving Back, filed this §1983 suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU, sued the New York City and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) alleging unlawful surveillance that targeted Muslims in violation of the Fourteenth and First Amendments and the New York state constitution.
The case was assigned to Judge Pam Chen. Discovery proceeded and led to an opinion by Judge Chen on Nov. 22, 2013. 998 F. Supp. 2d 70. She explained that "Plaintiffs seek a wide range of documents and information relating not only to the NYPD's surveillance and investigation of the plaintiffs, but the NYPD's investigative policies and activities relating to all Muslim individuals and organizations, and relating to all non-Muslim individuals and organizations, where the policy or activity is or was based on the individual's or organization's religious speech, beliefs, practices, and activities." The city opposed these requests, arguing that only documents related to the particular plaintiffs should be discoverable. The court sided largely with the plaintiffs, ruling that the plaintiffs were entitled to discovery regarding NYPD policies and programs involving Muslims because that discovery would be necessary for proving discriminatory intent. However, the court denied discovery on investigative policies and activities related to non-Muslim individuals, which was sought to provide a comparison with the plaintiffs.
Litigation was stayed from July 22, 2014, to January 6, 2016, while the parties negotiated a settlement agreement. On January 7, 2016, the parties submitted an agreement for approval by the court. The settlement dictated that the defendant would conform its investigations involving political activity to the Constitution, including the elimination of racial profiling as a motivating factor for investigation. The defendant also agreed to remove the "Radicalization in the West Report" from its website. In addition, the guidelines established in
Handschu v. Special Services Division limiting NYPD investigations of political activity were modified. The modified guidelines:
(1) Established the Handschu Committee to oversee investigations and set out the requirements for the appointment of a Civilian Representative;
(2) Required that choices in investigation techniques take into account the effect on religious and political activities of individuals, including those not the target of investigation; and
(3) Required that undercover investigations only be used when there were no less intrusive means to acquire the sought after information.
The guidelines also dictated that investigations respect the constitutional right to be free of investigation in which race, religion, or ethnicity is a substantial or motivating factor. The defendant paid $1,671,686 in attorney fees and expenses. The agreement was to last at least five years subject to the defendant achieving substantial compliance with all provisions.
On February 2, 2017, a Muslim individual filed a letter to the court and sought instant intervention because the NYPD allegedly violated the
Handschu guidelines during its investigation. Both parties filed responses and argued that intervention was not proper because there was no common interest and it was untimely. The court denied this motion to intervene on March 20, 2017.
On March 6, 2017, plaintiffs and defendants submitted a letter on behalf of both parties on the proposed settlement and on March 16, 2017, they updated the letter to reflect the recent revisions made to the
Handschu Guidelines, which enhanced overall protection from NYPD surveillance for New York’s Muslims. The revisions strengthened the rules that NYPD must follow when investigating political and First Amendment activity in New York City and required the installation of a Civilian Representative, a lawyer who was never previously employed by NYPD, to serve as the watchdog of NYPD’s surveillance operations. This Civilian Representative has to be appointed by the Mayor and could not be taken off the committee without a judge’s approval.
On March 20, 2017, the court approved the settlement agreement and dismissed the case with prejudice, although the court retained jurisdiction to enforce the settlement agreement. The case is ongoing for enforcement purposes, but as of April, 2020, there has been no further action in the docket.
Elizabeth Homan - 11/01/2013
Katherine Reineck - 04/10/2016
MJ Koo - 03/18/2017
Jake Parker - 06/29/2018
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