Last Chance Saloon For Trinidad Checkpoint Lawsuit

NBCWashington.com reports that The Partnership for Civil Justice -- who unsuccessfully sued the city last year in an attempt to strike down last year's controversial checkpoints in Trinidad -- was back in front of an appeals panel yesterday in a last-ditch attempt to strike the practice. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney with the organization, argued that the checkpoints violated "fundamental constitutional rights," and that the police's standards for selecting who could enter the neighborhood were arbitrary. The checkpoints in Trinidad, an incredibly combustible issue last summer which even led to internal rifts in the police force, could potentially return this year if the appeal is denied and violence spikes again.