9th Circuit blocks California limits on anonymous immigration agents

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A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down California’s requirement that masked federal agents identify themselves, a blow to the state’s ongoing resistance to the Trump administration’s deportation program.

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel handed down a ruling prohibiting California from enforcing a section of the 2025 law that mandates federal law enforcement officers visibly display identification while carrying out their duties.

The law was destined to face critical scrutiny from the federal judiciary. An 1890 Supreme Court case provides that a state cannot prosecute federal law enforcement officers acting in the course of their duties.

The law also ran headlong into the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which holds that states may not regulate the operations of the federal government.

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