The Legal Aid Society filed a joint amicus brief to argue that the New York Police Department’s reliance on prior arrests and summonses to compile its “transit recidivist database” is unconstitutional, unlawful, and perpetuates racial disparities. In 2018, it was the NYPD’s policy to arrest any rider for a transit offense if they were listed in the database, instead of issuing an informal warning or civil summons. Not only does the use of arrest histories to justify additional arrests violate the presumption of innocence, the database subverts the guarantees of due process; individuals on it were not told of their inclusion, nor afforded any process to challenge it.

In 2019, the First Department did not rule on the legality of the database, holding instead that the NYPD had probable cause in making the underlying arrest in the case.

In 2024, the Court issued a preliminary injunction in R.C. v City of New York prohibiting the NYPD from using sealed data for predictive policing, surveillance, or labeling as “recidivists”.