Press Release

AALDEF and 17 other civil rights groups filed an amicus brief in Hassan v. City of New York, a constitutional challenge to the massive surveillance by the New York Police Department (NYPD) of American Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians, based on their religious affiliation and without any evidence of criminal activity.

AALDEF and other amici have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to reverse the district court’s decision, which was based on negative and erroneous stereotypes about American Muslims and ignored the stigmatizing consequences of the NYPD’s surveillance program. Kaye Scholer is the pro bono counsel representing AALDEF and the 17 groups.

The case was filed in New Jersey federal court on behalf of an Iraq war veteran, current and former Rutgers University students, Muslim student associations, and a coalition of New Jersey mosques, who were targets of the NYPD’s secret spying solely because of their religious affiliation. The plaintiffs are represented by Muslim Advocates and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

For more information, contact:
Kenneth Kimerling, Legal Director
212.966.5932 x203
kkimerling@aaldef.org