NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Michael Bloomberg shrugged off a federal judge’s rejection of the city's bid to stall changes to stop-and-frisk pending appeal.
"She didn't rule against me, she ruled against the people of New York City," Bloomberg said at an unrelated press conference Wednesday. "I don't even think this is newsworthy. The next battle is in the higher court."
The city had pushed Judge Shira Scheindlin to put a freeze on her August ruling in which she found the city's stop-and-frisk tactic unconstitutional and ordered a federal monitor to oversee the NYPD.
She rejected that request in a ruling Tuesday.
The city must now move to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where it will seek a stay on the court-ordered changes while also appealing Scheindlin’s ruling.
In August, Scheindlin took the NYPD to task, accusing the department of racially profiling New Yorkers in violation of their rights. She appointed Peter Zimroth, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, to fill the role of federal monitor.
Bloomberg has called the ruling “dangerous’ and vowed to appeal it.
"What we did, we think, is completely within the law," he said Wednesday.
In the likely event that the legal battles drag on past the end of Bloomberg’s last day in office at the end of the year, it would fall to his replacement to decide whether to continue the legal battle.
Democratic nominee Bill de Blasio has said he would drop the appeal and welcome the federal monitor, while Republican Joe Lhota said he would continue the appeal process.
