Judge Tosses Muslim Spying Suit Against NYPD...

The Intercept ^ | 21 Feb 2014 | Dan Froomkin

[SunkenCiv]

A federal judge in Newark has thrown out a lawsuit against the New York Police Department for spying on New Jersey Muslims, saying if anyone was at fault, it was the Associated Press for telling people about it.

In his ruling Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martini simultaneously demonstrated the willingness of the judiciary to give law enforcement alarming latitude in the name of fighting terror, greenlighted the targeting of Muslims based solely on their religious beliefs, and blamed the media for upsetting people by telling them what their government was doing.

The NYPD’s clandestine spying on daily life in Muslim communities in the region — with no probable cause, and nothing to show for it — was exposed in a Pulitzer-Prize winning series of stories by the AP. The stories described infiltration and surveillance of at least 20 mosques, 14 restaurants, 11 retail stores, two grade schools, and two Muslim student associations in New Jersey alone.

In a cursory, 10-page ruling issued before even hearing oral arguments, Martini essentially said that what the targets didn’t know didn’t hurt them...

[SunkenCiv]

full title: "Judge Tosses Muslim Spying Suit Against NYPD, Says Any Damage Was Caused by Reporters Who Exposed It".

[SunkenCiv]

I could have sworn I’d read about this on FR, but couldn’t find anything.

from the FRchives:

same judge:

Martini gets OK as Federal Judge
The Record of Hackensack ^ | 11.16.02
Posted on 11/22/2002 1:15:58 PM by Coleus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/794020/posts

same religion:

Obama Administration Wants Judge to Toss Iran Embassy Hostage Suit
FoxNews | Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Posted on 4/22/2009 3:25:40 PM by Joiseydude
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2235429/posts

[Petrosius]

targeting of Muslims based solely on their religious beliefs

Unfortunately their religious beliefs include that it is legitimate to use violence against non-Muslims.

[Theoria]

Well, we are pretty lucky here in the states that millions of Muslims don't follow that belief and kill us daily.

[SunkenCiv]

/bingo

[I want the USA back]

This is good, but NY’s fool of a mayor will do everything he can to favor the screaming towelhead bearded savages.

[cuban leaf]

Unfortunately their religious beliefs include that it is legitimate to use violence against non-Muslims.

---

That’s the problems, their religious beliefs are not just religious. The thin veil of religion is only a tiny part of islam. It is a dangerous belief system and should be treated as such.

[SunkenCiv]

This was in NJ, but the NYPD was involved. I think the Sandinista Mayor had help in ending that program.

If they’d been on the ball, the “journalist(s)” behind that expose would have just disappeared one night, then reemerged as body parts scattered across various parts of NE.

[DannyTN]

"For similar reasons, the Plaintiffs in this case have not alleged facts from which it can be plausibly inferred that they were targeted solely because of their religion. The more likely explanation for the surveillance was a desire to locate budding terrorist conspiracies. The most obvious reason for so concluding is that surveillance of the Muslim community began just after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The police could not have monitored New Jersey for Muslim terrorist activities without monitoring the Muslim community itself. While this surveillance Program may have had adverse effects upon the Muslim community after the Associated Press published its articles; the motive for the Program was not solely to discriminate against Muslims, but rather to find Muslim terrorists hiding among ordinary, law-abiding Muslims."

The judge basically establishes that terrorism was Probable cause for the surveilance, and that "Muslim Terrorists" are in fact linked to the Muslim religion, justifying the racial profiling. Such racial profiling was not designed to discriminate against ordinary Muslims but to find the terrorists.