A federal appeals court has permanently nixed a California law that would have forced ICE agentsto wear identification, saying that the state can’t regulate actions by the federal government.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed with the Trump administration that the California law violated the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by interfering with federal officers’ duties.
The court previously had blocked the law in April.
“As before, we conclude … the No Vigilantes Act attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions,” Judge Mark J. Bennett wrote. “No set of circumstances exist under which the Act would be valid.”
Trump officials cheered the ruling. First Assistant US Attorney for the Central District Bill Essayli condemned California on Wednesday.
“Huge win for the Supremacy Clause,” Essayli said. “California continues to violate the U.S. Constitution, and we will continue to hold them accountable.”
The Justice Department had sued to block the ID requirement alongside a related law attempting to ban masks for federal agents and local police last fall. A federal judge blocked the mask rule but had let the ID requirement proceed.
Now, the appellate court has stepped in to invalidate the ID rules.
“If a state law directly regulates the governmental conduct of the United States without congressional authorization, it is void irrespective of whether the regulated activities are essential to federal functions or operations, and irrespective of the degree to which the state law interferes with such functions or operations,” Bennett wrote.
The Post reached out to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office for comment. Bonta’s office previously argued that the law was needed to provide “transparency and accountability” for a federal administration that is using immigration enforcement to step “well outside the boundaries of normal practice.”
Democrats in California and around the nation considered laws to restrict federal immigration enforcement in the wake of the killing of anti-ICE protestor Renee Goodin Minneapolis, who was shot four times during a tense standoff with officers while she was in her SUV.
A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom previously responded to the state law’s stumbles in court by saying “these laws shouldn’t even be necessary,” calling out President Donald Trump and his Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller for their aggressive deportation campaign.
“We shouldn’t have unidentified, masked men terrorizing our communities,” the spokesperson told the California Post. “We will continue demanding federal accountability and fighting against Trump and Miller’s reign of terror against our communities.”
Despite the legal challenges, Democrats in California have continued with their crusade against ICE agents.
This year, the state enacted more new laws that will ban “wearable electroshock devices,” prohibit ICE agents accused of serious misconduct from state employment and let residents sue ICE officials.
The ruling today could be a blow to those new laws, legislative analysts have already warned.
“The provisions of this bill seeking to regulate federal agencies and their agents will undoubtedly be subject to legal challenge under the doctrines of intergovernmental immunity and conflict preemption,” wrote staff of the California Senate Public Safety Committee on the shock-device ban.
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