Excerpt:
Muslim groups that accused the New York Police Department of illegally spying on them in New Jersey after the Sept. 11 attacks appear on the verge of settling a civil rights lawsuit against the city.
In an order filed last month in federal court in Newark, U.S. District Judge William Martini said the parties had notified him they had reached an agreement. He gave them 60 days to finalize the deal, the details of which were not disclosed.
Islamic community leaders, the lead plaintiff and the plaintiff’s lawyers were scheduled to make an announcement about the case Thursday. Neither side commented Wednesday.
The suit was filed in 2012 following reports by The Associated Press that revealed how the NYPD infiltrated Muslim student groups and put informants in mosques as part of a broad effort to prevent terrorist attacks.