Justice Department probes New York coffee shop over anti-Goldman post

The Justice Department opened a civil-rights probe into Poetica Coffee after the Brooklyn chain posted that it would have refused service to U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman if staff had recognized him. The move put a small neighborhood business with seven cafés across Brooklyn and the East Village at the center of a national fight over civil-rights law, political speech and accusations of antisemitism.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the Civil Rights Division had opened an investigation and would pursue enforcement if warranted. She said federal law bars public accommodations such as coffee shops from discriminating against patrons based on race, religion or national origin. That authority comes from Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which guarantees full and equal enjoyment of public accommodations without discrimination on those grounds.

Goldman said he had stopped at the cafe in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with his 7-year-old daughter so she could use the restroom, then bought a coffee as a thank-you. Poetica later posted on Instagram, “We don't serve racists, fascists, homophobes, genocide enablers or anyone in between,” and followed with, “Too bad we didn't recognize you right away, or we would have turned you away.” A separate account of the post said the cafe also refunded Goldman and suggested his money was “probably coming from AIPAC anyways,” a line that intensified accusations that the episode was antisemitic.

By Monday, the Instagram post was no longer visible and the account appeared to have been deactivated. The cafe’s own website describes Poetica as offering “Radical Hospitality” and says it has seven cafés across Brooklyn and the East Village, making the controversy more than a one-off clash at a single storefront. The Jewish Community Relations Council of New York condemned the post as antisemitic, saying, “Turning a cup of coffee into a Jewish identity litmus test is an affront to the law, our values, and every New Yorker who rejects discrimination.”

The episode landed in the middle of a heated Democratic primary in New York’s 10th Congressional District, where Goldman and Brad Lander are both Jewish and face each other in the June 23 contest. Goldman, who represents the district and is backed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York and served as lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment. Reporting before the post noted that Goldman had marched in New York’s Israel Day parade while Lander campaigned with activists critical of Israel, underscoring how quickly local politics, the war in Gaza and federal civil-rights law collided in one Brooklyn coffee shop.