Ninth Circuit strikes down California ‘No Vigilantes Act’ as unconstitutional
A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel ruled California's 'No Vigilantes Act,' requiring visible ID for federal agents on duty, violates the supremacy clause and ordered a preliminary injunction blocking it.
The panel, including two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, reversed a trial judge who had declined to grant the federal government that injunction.
The law arose after 2025 ICE operations in Southern California involving masked, unmarked agents detaining people at Home Depot lots and car washes; California's attorney general called the ruling a blow to transparency and accountability.
A related law banning face masks on federal agents was separately blocked by the trial judge on different grounds, after the government argued masking protects agent safety despite having no actual mask requirement.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.