Stop-and-Frisk Judge Removed

Judge Shira Scheindlin's ruling that the New York Police Department violated the Constitution with its stop-and-frisk program has been temporarily blocked, a federal appeals court said Thursday. The ruling is blocked until a decision is made in response to the city's appeal of the judge's orders. The appeals court also ordered Scheindlin removed from the case, after determining that the judge's public statements and media interviews regarding stop-and-frisk violated the U.S. judge's code of conduct. The city had appealed Scheindlin's August decision, in which she ordered that the police department change its policy.