The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a California law that would have required immigration officials and other law enforcement officials to show identification while on duty, and Wednesday’s ruling found that the measure “attempts to directly control” the federal government.
“[The law] seeks to override the federal government’s power to determine how, and when to publicize its officials,” wrote Judge Mark J. Bennett.
The Justice Department first challenged the law shortly after it was passed last fall, suing to block the ID requirement and a related effort to ban masks for federal agents and local police.
Both laws were written in response to growing public anger over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
The joint case went to trial in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, a week after Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. When US District Judge Christina A. Snyder decided to uphold the law on Feb. 9, CBP officers shot and killed Alex Pretti.
At the time, Snyder wrote that he was “forced” to block the mask ban because state police pulled out at the last minute, finding it discriminatory to the federal government.
But he allowed the ID law to stand, saying it has a negative impact on the federal government, similar to highway speed limits.
The Trump administration appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit, claiming early success when a three-judge panel voted to temporarily block the ID law from taking effect while it considered the case.
Ultimately, the appeals panel was very skeptical of the state’s claims.
“California has done something we’ve never seen before,” said Judge Jacqueline Nguyen during oral arguments in March. “It tells government officials how to wear their uniform.”
The court found that was beyond the pale.
“The Act does not regulate the conduct that any ordinary citizen may engage in,” Bennett wrote. “Instead, it applies only to law enforcement agencies and their officials, including federal law enforcement agencies and federal law enforcement officials.”
The decision favors the Trump administration and eliminates another attempt to challenge its mass deportation plan.
Bill Essayli, who heads the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, called the decision a “major legal victory” in a post on X.
The decision comes after the firing of former Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem and Trump’s former top police officer, Pam Bondi.
The decision also comes at a time when more than a dozen other states are weighing their own mask laws — laws that could cause chaos across the US.
The deputy representative of California Gen. Mica Moore urged the court to consider the danger Californians face from unknown, masked people wielding military-grade weapons on the streets.
“We decline to do so,” Bennett wrote in Wednesday’s ruling.
