<!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ --></p> <p>from <a href=""https://calmatters.org/author/nigelduara/"" title=""Posts" by="" nigel="" duara="" class=""author" url="" fn="" rel=""author"">Nigel Duara</a>CalMatters</p> <figure> <img decoding="async" width=""1200"" height=""800"" src=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/070725-MacArthur-Park-Feds-JW-CM-27.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1"" class=""attachment-post-thumbnail" size-post-thumbnail="" wp-post-image="" alt=""A" group="" of="" heavily="" armed="" federal="" agents="" in="" full="" tactical="" gear="" emerge="" from="" the="" back="" an="" armored="" vehicle="" labeled="" vehicles="" on="" a="" sunlit="" urban="" street.="" most="" wear="" camouflage="" fatigues="" body="" armor="" helmets="" and="" goggles="" with="" visible="" patches="" reading="" insignias="" u.s.="" border="" patrol="" homeland="" security.="" some="" carry="" rifles="" one="" has="" zip="" cuffs="" canisters="" clipped="" to="" their="" vest.="" media="" photographer="" press="" vest="" films="" nearby.="" palm="" trees="" clear="" blue="" sky="" suggest="" southern="" california="" location.="" decoding=""async"" loading=""lazy"" srcset=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/070725-MacArthur-Park-Feds-JW-CM-27.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1" https:="" sizes=""auto,"/><figcaption>Federal agents descend on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles on July 7, 2025. Photo by JW Hendricks for CalMatters</figcaption></figure> <p>This story was originally published by <a href=""https://calmatters.org/"">CalMatters</a>. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/"">Sign up</a> for their newsletters.</p> <p>A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected California’s requirement that undercover federal agents identify themselves, a blow to the state’s continued resistance to the Trump administration’s deportation program. </p> <p>9th Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals <a href=""https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2026/04/22/26-926.pdf"">ruling made</a> barring California from enforcing a section of the 2025 mask law that requires federal law enforcement officers to visibly display identification while on duty. </p> <p>The law was <a href=""https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/12/immigration-mask-ban-new-law/"">pre-drawn</a> to face critical scrutiny from the federal judiciary. Ann <a href=""https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/135us1"">1890 Supreme Court Case</a> provides that a state may not prosecute federal law enforcement officers acting in the course of their duties. </p> <p>The law also ran head-on with the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which states that states cannot regulate the activities of the federal government. </p> <p>The <a href=""https://calmatters.org/tag/donald-trump/"">the Trump administration</a> sued to challenge the law soon after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it. On 19 Feb. federal judge <a href=""https://calmatters.org/newsletter/law-enforcement-mask-ruling/"">issued an injunction against the mask law</a>. The new 3-0 ruling makes that ban permanent, pending an appeal. </p> <p>“If a state law directly regulates the conduct of the United States, it is invalid regardless of whether the regulated activities are essential to federal functions or operations and regardless of the extent to which the state law interferes with federal functions or operations,” wrote Justice Mark J. Bennett. </p> <p>California lawyers argued that even if the mask law violated the Supremacy Clause, the court should have also considered the state’s concerns about the effect of federal immigration enforcement on public safety. </p> <p>“We refuse to do so,” Bennett wrote. “Because the United States has shown a likelihood that the Act violates the Supremacy Clause, it has also shown that both the public interest and the balance of equities “overwhelmingly favor” a preliminary injunction.”</p> <p>Democrats passed the carry ban to rein in anonymous federal agents carrying out the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.</p> <p>Lawmakers this year are advancing more bills targeting the administration’s immigration agents, including proposals that <a href=""https://calmatters.org/newsletter/ban-on-ice-in-california-police/"">it will put them out of work</a> in California law enforcement and a measure that would make it easier for people to<a href=""https://calmatters.org/newsletter/wiener-bill-federal-agents-bivens/""> sue federal agents</a> for violations of civil rights. </p> <p>This article was <a href=""https://calmatters.org/justice/2026/04/immigration-mask-ban-9th-circuit/"">originally published on CalMatters</a> and is republished under <a href=""https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives</a> license.</p> <p> Copy the HTML
