The Legal Aid Society and others decried a ruling regarding an emergency motion and supplemental submission filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the law firm of Beldock, Levine, & Hoffman, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and The Legal Aid Society. These measures sought immediate court action in response to the New York City Police Department (NYPD)’s violation of prior court orders prohibiting racial discrimination against Black and Latinx New Yorkers, reports the New York Daily News. The court’s decision permits the NYPD to continue discriminatory enforcement of social distancing orders unabated, which has been widely criticized.

“This ruling is a missed opportunity to bring much-needed accountability for the NYPD’s enforcement of social distancing rules disproportionately against Black and Latinx New Yorkers, despite hard evidence that violations of those rules are committed by white New Yorkers at equal rates,” said Corey Stoughton, Attorney-in-Charge of the Special Litigation Unit with the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.