Appeals court disallows D.C. police checkpoints

A U.S. appeals court has slapped the District of Columbia with a restraining order forbidding Mayor Adrian Fenty and Police Chief Cathy Lanier from erecting any more police barricades to prevent violence.

Last summer after a spate of shootings in the Trinidad neighborhood, Fenty and Lanier tried to quarantine the neighborhood. They threw up checkpoints to stop motorists, check IDs, and turn back anyone without “legitimate business” in Trinidad.