Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Lawyers Rally In Defense Of Judge Removed From Stop & Frisk Case
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 7, 2013
Modified Nov 11, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Nov 7, 2013
Modified Nov 11, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A team of distinguished attorneys has filed a legal brief on behalf of the federal judge who was removed from the stop and frisk cases last week. The attorneys, led by the founder of NYU's Brennan Center for Justice, Burt Neuborne, claim in the filing [PDF] that federal Judge Shira Schneidlin's ousting by a panel of Second Circuit judges was "an affront to the values underlying the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of procedural due process of law."
The three appellate judges who removed Judge Scheindlin—John Walker Jr., José Cabranes, and Barrington Parker Jr.—pointed to comments she made in the press as proof of her "bias" against the City and the NYPD in the stop and frisk case. They also claimed that comments she made to an attorney in 2007—comments that other attorneys and legal experts have categorized as appropriate and routine—constituted judicial misconduct.
“I thought when I saw the order that procedural fairness required that she at least have an opportunity to defend herself. I reached out to her and offered my services pro bono, and she accepted," Neuborne told the Times.
Neuborne's filing asks the appeals court to vacate the order removing Scheindlin, or bring it before the entire panel of Second Circuit judges for an en banc hearing.
A spokeswoman for the Law Department declined to comment on the filing.
Christopher Dunn, the NYCLU's associate legal director, who is litigating one of the two stop and frisk cases before the court, told the paper that the brief would allow for the judges' methods for determining Judge Scheindlin's removal to be entered into the legal record, and create “an opportunity for the judge to participate and defend herself" at oral argument.
Judge Analisa Torres was chosen to oversee the stop and frisk cases while they wait to be heard on appeal. Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has said he would drop the appeal upon taking office, but has hedged his language with respect to having a federal monitor oversee the stop and frisk reforms, as ordered by Judge Scheindlin.
For more context on what happened, and what happens next, take a look at our explainer.
Tagged
bill de blasio
judge shira scheindlin
stop and frisk
stop-and-frisk trial
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .