A New York City Transit rule requiring subway passengers to carry an ID with them at all times is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled last week. The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of two photographers arrested taking photos of the Nostalgia Train at Broad Channel a few years ago. The NYCLU has trumpeted the case as a defense of New Yorkers’ rights to take photographs in the subway without fear of arrest or having to show ID to the police.
The rule under dispute — Section 1050.5.4(3) of Transit’s Rules of Conduct — required “all persons on or in any facility or conveyance….[to] provide accurate, complete and true information or documents requested by New York City police officers or Authority personnel acting within the scope of their employment and otherwise in accordance with law.” According to Judge Cheryl Pollak’s decision, the law as worded is far too vague and “reaches a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct.” It also “vests almost unlimited discretion in the NYPD officers charged with enforcement” as they are supposed to determine what constitutes “accurate, complete and true information or documents.” (The ruling, complete with a discussion as to how NYPD officers didn’t even understand the law they were enforcing, is available here as a PDF.)
Although the MTA has not yet responded to the decision, the NYCLU championed this legal verdict. “This decision is a victory for the freedom of people to walk around free from showing their papers, a core American right,” NYCLU Staff Attorney Mariko Hirose said in a statement. “It’s past time for the NYPD to learn about the Constitution and stop harassing and even arresting people for exercising their basic rights.” In the past, wrongful arrests for subway photography have cost the city, and time and again, courts have sided with the public in such disputes.
(42nd Street Shuttle) (Overnights)
