A judge late on Monday took a bite out of the city’s efforts to rein in the monthly Critical Mass rides when he ruled that the New York City law barring people from “parading without a permit” is unconstitutional.

Police have been using the statute to make mass arrests during Critical Mass rides–and during the Republican Convention, they used it to round up all sorts of protestors. Yet on Monday, New York City Criminal Court Judge Gerald Harris ruled that the parade permit law is “hopelessly overbroad” and “constitutes a burden on free expression that is more than the First Amendment can bear.”

Full Story: Village Voice.

(thanks John).