Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio may be dropping the city’s appeal of disgraced federal judge Schira Scheindlin’s ruling against stop and frisks, but the city’s police unions will not let the challenge die.
The four unions that represent 29,000 of the NYPD’s 35,000 cops will file a motion Thursday with the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to intervene in the case so that the appeal can be heard.
“In order to ensure that our members have a voice in this critically important proceeding we are filing a motion to intervene in the second circuit court of appeals today,” said Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the largest union.
“The outcome of this appeal will directly affect the reputation of all NYC police officers.”
Unions representing police captains, lieutenants and detectives joined the PBA in the suit.
The appeals court booted Scheindlin from the case last week after it questioned her impartiality, contending she “ran afoul” of judicial ethics.
The court also stayed her August ruling that called stop and frisk unconstitutional and mandated a federal monitor to oversee the NYPD.
De Blasio has repeatedly vowed to drop the appeal filed by the Bloomberg administration, a move that would “leave police officers and the public without a means to challenge a decision that will have significant impact on both police operations and public safety,” according to the PBA’s statement.
The motion will be filed by lawyers Steven A. Engel and James M. McGuire with the Southern District in cooperation with the PBA’s General Counsel, Michael T. Murray.