Mayor de Blasio announced yesterday that he would drop the lawsuit brought by former Mayor Bloomberg against the New York City Council to challenge the validity of Local Law 71, which bars racial and other bias-based profiling. Local Law 71 was enacted in the wake of a federal court finding that the NYPD’s “stop & frisk” activities violate the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Former Mayor Bloomberg vetoed the legislation, but the City Council voted to override the Mayor’s veto. Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel was selected to represent the City Council and defend the constitutionality of the law when former Mayor Michael Bloomberg first challenged it and still represents the Council. New York City’s police unions, who intervened in the case, stated that they would continue fighting the law. ECBAWM partner Andrew G. Celli, Jr. told the New York Law Journal that Mayor de Blasio’s decision to drop the lawsuit “shows that this mayor respects the democratic process and the New York City Charter.” In addition to Mr. Celli, ECBAWM lawyers Elizabeth Saylor and Vasudha Talla represent the City Council.

“Mayor Says New York City Will Settle Suits on Stop-and-Frisk Tactics,” New York Times