2007—At a hearing on a settlement agreement requiring New York City to establish policies that prohibit racial profiling, federal district judge Shira Scheindlin encourages plaintiffs to file a new lawsuit against the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policies, outlines the basis for such a suit, declares that she would make sure the suit gets assigned to her, and assures the plaintiffs that she would rule in their favor in their effort to obtain documents they sought.
Nearly six years later, after Scheindlin has used similar measures to seize control of nearly all cases challenging the stop-and-frisk policies and has made a series of public statements responding to criticism of her actions, a Second Circuit panel will rule (in Ligon v. City of New York) that she has so badly damaged the appearance of impartiality that she must be removed from any further role in such cases.