A New York federal appeals court blocked Judge Shira Scheindlin's orders from August, which would have required changes to the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk program, The Associated Press reported.
Scheindlin, who deemed the police program unconstitutional for routinely stopping and questioning people of color, was also removed from the case on Thursday.
The ruling was "praised by police unions, Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota and the Bloomberg administration, which asked for the stay and has long criticized Scheindlin, saying she endangered public safety with an anti-police mindset," Newsday reported.
After Scheindlin's ruling in August, the city appealed her findings and her remedial orders, which would have included monitoring and tracking officers, The AP reported.
The appeals court said her removal was necessary "because she ran afoul of the code of conduct for U.S. judges by compromising the necessity for a judge to avoid the appearance of partiality in part because of a series of media interviews and public statements responding publicly to criticism of the court," The AP also reported.
Judge Scheindlin went as far as saying that New York police officers specifically targeted black and Hispanic men.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted the judge's ruling in August, calling it "a dangerous decision made by a judge who... does not understand how policing works and what is compliant with the U.S. Constitution as determined by the Supreme Court... Crime can come back any time the criminals think they can get away with things. We just cannot let that happen," he said.
The NYPD feels a sense of vindication, believing that making changes to the the stop-and-frisk program could make the city much more dangerous. Crime has severely reduced in the city since the program was enacted.
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