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When a federal judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department鈥檚 secret surveillance of New Jersey Muslims, saying it was not motivated by religious bias, the controversial police tactics of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, received a measure of post-administration vindication.

The US District judge, William Martini, of the District of New Jersey, brought by a group of Muslim residents in 2012, including a decorated Iraq war veteran, leaders of local mosques and small businesses, and university student organizations. The residents had argued that the NYPD 鈥� working across the Hudson River and outside its municipal borders 鈥� had singled them out simply because of the way they prayed, violating their First Amendment right to religious freedom and their 14th Amendment right to equal treatment under the law.

Judge Martini鈥檚 highlighted, once again, America鈥檚 ongoing grappling with a clash of civic values 鈥� the 鈥渟ecurity versus liberty鈥� conundrum in a post-9/11 world. But it also brought attention to the NYPD鈥檚 more-than-a-decade-long history of aggressive investigative tactics and to the politically charged question of how far the state may go in pursuing broad-based, blanket surveillance of a community to preempt possible, rather than actual, criminal and terrorist activities.

In addition to its contentious practice of stop-and-frisk, in which hundreds of thousands black and Latino men were targeted in police sweeps of high-crime areas, the Bloomberg administration鈥檚 NYPD also set up a special intelligence unit, directed by a retired CIA veteran. That unit became one of the nation鈥檚 most aggressive collectors of domestic intelligence, spanning out to surrounding states and even overseas.

鈥淎s we have always said, the NYPD's Intelligence division followed the law 鈥� and today's decision vindicates both the Department and the City,鈥� said former Commissioner Kelly, in a statement on Thursday.

Since 2002, the NYPD intelligence division spied on dozens of New Jersey mosques, restaurants, and stores, as well as two Muslim grade schools and two Muslim student associations. The department used 鈥渞akers鈥� and 鈥渃rawlers鈥� in Muslim neighborhoods, infiltrating religious and civic groups, as well as setting up video surveillance and mapping neighborhoods' ethnic makeups.

Martini dismissed the case on a technicality, however. The plaintiffs did not have proper 鈥渟tanding鈥� to sue, because their injuries were caused not by the NYPD鈥檚 secret surveillance per se, but rather by a of their tactics by The Associated Press, he said.

鈥淲hile this surveillance program may have had adverse effects upon the Muslim community after the Associated Press published its articles,鈥� Martini wrote, 鈥渢he motive for the program was not solely to discriminate against Muslims, but rather to find Muslim terrorists hiding among ordinary, law-abiding Muslims.鈥�

The judge also rejected the claim that these New Jersey residents were illegally profiled simply because of their religion.

鈥淧laintiffs in this case have not alleged facts from which it can be plausibly inferred that they were targeted solely because of their religion,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭he more likely explanation for the surveillance was a desire to locate budding terrorist conspiracies. The most obvious reason for so concluding is that surveillance of the Muslim community began just after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The police could not have monitored New Jersey for Muslim terrorist activities without monitoring the Muslim community itself.鈥�

础笔'蝉听 of the NYPD鈥檚 spying on New Jersey Muslims, which was based on confidential internal documents, included a list of at least two dozen 鈥渁ncestries of interest鈥� to target likely Muslims. According to plaintiffs' attorneys, the program, after a decade of such surveillance, did not generate a single lead that uncovered a terrorist threat.

鈥淏y upholding the NYPD鈥檚 blunderbuss Muslim surveillance practices, the court鈥檚 decision gives legal sanction to the targeted discrimination of Muslims anywhere and everywhere in this country, without limitation, for no other reason than their religion,鈥澛爏aid Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights,聽.

The AP鈥檚 reports also sparked protests from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and then-Newark Mayor Corey Booker (D). Moreover, it prompted a rare public rebuke from FBI officials in New Jersey, who said the NYPD's spying damaged public trust and created added risk for agencies gathering domestic intelligence about possible terrorism suspects.

Some plaintiffs in the case expressed frustration with Martini鈥檚 action.

鈥淚 have dedicated my career to serving my country, and this just feels like a slap in the face 鈥� all because of the way I pray,鈥� said Farhaj Hassan, the US soldier who served in Iraq and joined the suit in 2012.聽

The case is Hassan v. City of New York, 2:12-cv-3401.

Another group of New York Muslims filed a last June in federal district court in Manhattan. The case is pending.