Judge Nicholas Garaufis
A criminal proceeding was filed against Bankhead in Brooklyn Criminal Court for the petty offense of consuming alcohol in public. Generally invoking his rights under First and Fourteenth amendments—and asserting that police and the courts discriminated against him on the basis of his race by arresting him for an open container violation and failing to provide a prompt hearing—Bankhead sought the criminal proceeding’s removal to federal district court. District court found removal inappropriate and remanded action to Criminal Court of the City of New York, Kings County. It found Bankhead failed to satisfy the U.S. Supreme Court’s two-part test in Georgia v. Rachel. He did not allege that his state prosecution implicated any federal statute specifically protecting racial equality. Also, First Amendment and due process protections are broadly applicable to several forms of discrimination against various groups and activities. Further, citing Johnson v. Mississippi and Negron v. New York, the court observed that Bankhead did not claim that any federal law “explicitly makes legal” the conduct for which he was charged. Nor is there any law protecting the public consumption of alcohol in the circumstances of Bankhead’s case.
