The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has allowed city police officers’ largest union to intervene in consolidated litigation over the New York City Police Department’s response to protests for racial justice in 2020.

A three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based appeals court held March 4 that the Police Benevolent Association had a “cognizable interest” in officer safety, which could be affected by the outcome of suits from more than two dozen plaintiffs accusing the NYPD of various abuses, including excessive force and false arrest, during that summer’s demonstrations.