California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to put state controls over ICE went down in defeat on Wednesday at the hands of a three-judge appeals court panel.
In a unanimous opinion, the panel found California’s “No Vigilantes Act,” which required Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to wear visible identification on their clothing, was an unconstitutional attempt by the state to regulate federal officers.
And not even a judge appointed by Barack Obama could go along with that.
Huge legal victory this morning in the Ninth Circuit, where the court permanently enjoined California’s unconstitutional mask law targeting federal agents.
“We conclude that § 10 of the No Vigilantes Act attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of… pic.twitter.com/fZNjG9QepO
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) April 22, 2026
According to The Washington Times, the panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was made up of one Obama-appointed judge and two appointed by President Donald Trump.
Despite the disparate political approaches of their patrons, however, all three found California lawmakers and their Democratic governor had overstepped when it comes to the law of the land.
In Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution, known as the Supremacy Clause, the Founders made it clear that federal laws supersede state laws. The Trump administration argued that California’s attempt to regulate federal officials in the performance of their duty violated that provision, as The Hill reported.
“And that is precisely what the No Vigilantes Act does,” U.S. Circuit Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, wrote for the court, according to The Hill.
“The Act does not regulate conduct that any ordinary citizen could perform. Rather, it applies exclusively to law enforcement agencies and their officers, including federal law enforcement agencies and federal law enforcement officers. The Act thus directly regulates conduct reserved to sovereigns.”
Bennett was joined by fellow Trump appointee Judge Daniel Collins as well as Obama appointee Judge Jacqueline Nguyen.
The “No Vigilantes Act” was passed and signed last year, along with a companion bill that banned ICE agents from wearing masks while performing their duties in California, according to The Washington Times.
ICE agents have been masked to hide their faces and keep their identities secret because leftists opposed to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration have used military-style surveillance and official identifications to doxx and harass ICE officers and their families.
The mask law was thrown out by a lower court judge as singling out federal officers for unequal treatment. However, the judge let stand the identification law because that was required of state law enforcement as well, The Washington Times reported.
At the time, Newsom celebrated that as a “clear win.”
“A federal court upheld California’s law requiring federal agents to identify themselves — a clear win for the rule of law. No badge and no name mean no accountability,” Newsom said.
“California will keep standing up for civil rights and our democracy.”
For the appeals court, though, it wasn’t a question of whether the state can impose equal requirements on federal officers, but whether they can impose any requirements at all.
“We conclude that [section 10] of the No Vigilantes Act attempts to directly regulate the United States in its performance of governmental functions,” Bennett wrote, according to Fox News. “The Supremacy Clause forbids the State from enforcing such legislation.”
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