9th Circuit Blocks California Law Forcing Federal Agents to Show ID
Even a liberal-leaning appeals court says California cannot regulate how federal officers identify themselves, handing Gov. Newsom a setback on immigration enforcement.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, no friend of the Trump administration in past immigration fights, just sided with it.
On Wednesday the court blocked a section of California's "No Vigilantes Act," which would have required plainclothes federal law enforcement agents to show their badges and identification while carrying out operations. According to Fox News, the panel said the administration was "certain to succeed" in its lawsuit, finding that the identification requirement violates the Constitution's supremacy clause, which makes federal law take priority over conflicting state law.
The panel's language was blunt. "Section 10 explicitly overrides the federal government's power to determine whether, how, and when to publicly identify its officers," the judges wrote. California had argued that a state law only crosses the line when it imposes "substantial burdens on federal operations." The court rejected that. "The burden of the regulation on federal operations, whether substantial or otherwise, is irrelevant," it wrote.
The ruling is a preliminary injunction, not a final judgment. The procedural history matters: the administration sued California in November 2025 over the No Vigilantes Act and a companion law, the No Secret Police Act, which restricts officers from wearing face coverings. Fox reports that Judge Christina Snyder, a Clinton appointee, initially blocked the mask restriction for federal officers but declined to block the identification requirement. The administration appealed. The 9th Circuit temporarily blocked enforcement in February and granted an injunction pending appeal in April before this week's decision.
Fox notes this is the same appeals court that has repeatedly clashed with the administration on immigration, including rulings involving sanctuary city funding in 2018, asylum eligibility in 2018 and the 2017 travel ban.
Administration officials celebrated. Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division, wrote on X: "The Ninth Circuit agrees that California cannot regulate federal law enforcement."
A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom's office responded that "California is proud to fight for the safety of our communities against the federal government's campaign of terror and weaponized incompetence," adding that the federal government's tactics "continue to harm our families every day."
The legal point is the one that will outlast the political fight. A state can pass many laws, but it does not get to decide how the federal government runs its own officers. Fox describes the decision as a blow to Newsom, widely seen as a 2028 presidential hopeful who has built his profile on opposing Trump's immigration agenda.