Muslim Group Challenges NYPD Surveillance With Lawsuit

Revelations about the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslims across the Northeast has prompted eight Americans in a Muslim advocacy group to file a suit demanding the department stop its monitoring and intelligence gathering program. “Democracy Now!” speaks with Glenn Katon (at right), the group’s legal adviser.

“When the NYPD says basically all Muslims are suspect,” says Muslim Advocates’ Katon, “it seems clear to us that that violates equal protection of the law.”

The group alleges that the NYPD is in violation of three aspects of the Constitution: the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which states that all people are given the same protection under U.S. law; the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which guarantees the government will not give preferential treatment to any religious group; and the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause, which permits Americans to practice the religion of their choosing.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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