The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a California law that forced immigration agents and other law enforcement officers to display IDs while on duty, in a ruling Wednesday that found the measure “attempts to directly regulate” the federal government.
Judge Mark J. “(The law) is intended to eliminate the power of the federal government to determine whether, how, and when to publicly identify its officials,” Bennett wrote. “The Supremacy Clause prevents the State from enacting such laws.”
The Justice Department first challenged the law shortly after it was passed last fall, filing suit to block a related effort to ban masks as well as an ID requirement for federal agents and local police.
Both laws were written in response to growing public anger over the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions.
The joint case reached a court in Los Angeles on January 14, a week after Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. On February 9, when US District Judge Christina A. By the time Snyder ruled to uphold the law, CBP officers had shot and killed Alex Pretty.
At the time, Snyder wrote that she was “forced” to stop the mask ban due to a last-minute waiver granted to state police because she felt it was discriminatory against the federal government.
But he allowed the ID law to stand, saying it would have only an incidental effect on the federal government, similar to a speed limit on the highway.
The Trump administration appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit, and claimed an initial victory when a three-judge panel voted to temporarily block the ID law from taking effect while it considered the case.
Ultimately, the appellate panel was more skeptical of the state’s claims.
“California has done something we have never seen before,” Judge Jacqueline Nguyen said during oral arguments in March. “It’s telling federal officers how to wear their uniforms.”
The court found that this was beyond unnaturality.
Bennett wrote, “The Act does not regulate conduct that any ordinary citizen may engage in.” “Rather, it applies specifically to law enforcement agencies and their officials, including federal law enforcement agencies and federal law enforcement officers.”
The decision favors the Trump administration and thwarts another attempt to challenge its mass deportation program.
Bill Essaly, who leads the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, called the decision a “huge legal victory” in a post on X.
The decision follows the firing of both former Department of Homeland Security boss Kristi Noem and Trump’s former top cop Pam Bondi.
The decision also comes as more than a dozen other states are considering mask laws of their own — laws that could create precedent for duels across the U.S.
California Deputy Solicitor General Micah Moore urged the court to consider the threat Californians face from unidentified masked agents wielding military-grade weapons on the streets.
“We decline to do so,” Bennett wrote in Wednesday’s decision.
