The New York Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that the state legislature authorized the Commission on Forensic Sciences to create rules allowing police to search the state’s DNA database to identify family members of potential suspects. Practically, this means New York police officers can resume using the state’s DNA databank for these types of searches. The court found that the regulation that enables these searches is restrictive enough to protect the privacy concerns of the plaintiffs.

Chief Judge Rowan Wilson authored the majority opinion of the court. Wilson ruled that the New York state legislature authorized the commission to promulgate rules to allow familial DNA searches. Additionally, Wilson found that the regulation allowing the familial searches has resulted in an “extremely small number of familial searches,” evidencing the restrictiveness of the familial search regulation.

Judge Stephen Lindley dissented from the majority, arguing that the legislature did not authorize the commission to adopt “important policy-laden decisions of this nature.” He instead insisted that the decision should have been left to the legislature itself.

In 1994, the New York state legislature passed the DNA Databank Act, which created the commission and a DNA database containing DNA from designated criminal offenders. In 2010, the commission created a rule that authorized the release of “partial match” DNA information to law enforcement. Partial matches suggest that the person with DNA in the database is a “close blood relative” of the person whose DNA was found at a crime scene. Later, in 2017, the commission authorized familial searches—which are intentional searches for partial matches—instead of the unintentional partial match system previously used.

Familial searches are used after finding no direct DNA matches or partial DNA matches in the DNA database. These searches are allowed for DNA found at crime scenes of offenses that present a “significant public safety threat.” The plaintiffs in Tuesday’s case sued the commission, asserting that they have a unique risk of being identified through the DNA databank and targeted by police due to their familial relationships. Specifically, the state convicted their brothers of felonies and have their DNA in the databank.

In a related New York data privacy case, last month, the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York Betty Rosa banned the use of facial recognition technology in New York schools. The decision came after a state report found that student privacy risks outweighed the potential security benefits.