A protest was held in New York City on Monday against incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio’s appointment of William Bratton as the next police commissioner. Bratton returns to the job after leading the New York City Police Department in the mid-1990s, embracing a controversial strategy of cracking down on low-level offenses. De Blasio campaigned on a promise to curb the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy, but Bratton actually expanded the program while heading the Los Angeles police. As demonstrators rallied outside, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman asked Bill de Blasio at The Nation magazine’s annual gala if he will drop Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s appeal of a ruling that the enforcement of stop-and-frisk has been unconstitutional.

Amy Goodman: “Will you be dropping the appeal on the stop-and-frisk case?”

Bill de Blasio: “I’ve said repeatedly I intend to drop the appeal.”