Partnering civil rights attorneys today filed papers in federal court seeking to stop the NYPD from creating dossiers on innocent Muslim New Yorkers and end the Police Department’s ability to initiate investigations into Muslim New Yorkers when there is no belief that they have engaged or are about to engage in unlawful activity or an act of terrorism. The filing is part of the Handschu v. Special Services Division proceeding, a decades-old federal case that has produced a series of court orders regulating NYPD surveillance of political and religious activity.

Court testimony released today by the New York Civil Liberties Union and partnering civil rights attorneys affirms that the NYPD’s Demographics Unit spied on Muslim New Yorkers only because of their ethnicity and native language – not because they were suspected of criminal activity – and reveals that the intelligence gathering never resulted in a lead in a terrorism investigation.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today called for a federal investigation into the reported use of White House funds by the NYPD for its religious and racial profiling activities. Today the Associated Press reported that the NYPD used federal funds to support its surveillance of Muslim communities with no suspicion of wrongdoing.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union are calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to investigate religious and racial profiling by the New York Police Department. In the latest of a series of articles, the Associated Press reports that the NYPD spied on mosques and Muslim college students far outside New York City, without evidence or allegations of criminal activity.

The New York City Council must use its oversight authority to investigate the NYPD’s surveillance operations targeting Muslim New Yorkers engaged in no wrongdoing, the New York Civil Liberties Union will argue today in testimony before the council’s Public Safety Committee.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and partnering civil rights attorneys today filed papers in federal court seeking information on the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslims in New York City to determine whether the spying operation violates an existing court order. The filing is part of the Handschu v. Special Services Division proceedings, a decades-old federal case that has produced a series of court orders regulating NYPD surveillance of political and religious activity.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today applauded the Suffolk County Legislature for rejecting a bill that would have mandated the creation and maintenance of a prepaid cell phone registry in the county. The Legislature rejected the bill, I.R. 1266, Tuesday evening by a bipartisan vote of 7 to 11. The NYCLU’s Suffolk County Chapter had organized a coalition of more than 30 civil rights, immigrants’ rights, labor, social justice, community and interfaith organizations in opposition to the bill.

A coalition of more than 30 civil rights, immigrants’ rights, labor, social justice, community and interfaith organizations today urged members of the Suffolk County Legislature to oppose a bill that would mandate the creation and maintenance of a prepaid cell phone registry in Suffolk County.

A State Senate committee hearing scheduled on Friday to purportedly examine homeland security issues must not be used as a forum to attack and demonize Muslim and immigrant New Yorkers, New York Neighbors for American Values, a coalition of more than 100 civic, labor and religious organizations, urged today in a letter to state Sen. Gregory R. Ball, R- 40th district, chairman of the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs.

On Wednesday in Manhattan, a hearing will be held before Justice Saliann Scarpula of the New York State Supreme Court to consider whether the state must investigate an ethics complaint filed against a New York State-licensed psychologist who allegedly designed and participated in the abusive interrogation program at Guantánamo Bay. It is the first court hearing in the United States to consider whether a psychologist’s participation in abusive interrogations could violate state ethical standards.