Ninth Circuit Rules California's No Vigilantes Act ID Requirement Unconstitutional; State Cannot Force Federal Agents to Show Identification
A federal appeals court ruled on October 14 that the identification requirement in California's No Vigilantes Act violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, according to The Hill as reported by The National News Desk. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit remanded the case to the district court with instructions to enter a preliminary injunction barring California from enforcing the provision. A three-judge panel decided the matter unanimously.
The No Vigilantes Act, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2025, requires nonuniformed law enforcement officers to visibly display their agency and their name or badge number during arrests, detentions and crowd-control operations, with misdemeanor penalties for noncompliance. The law was aimed principally at federal agents, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel operating in California. The U.S. Department of Justice sued to block it; in February, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder upheld the identification provision while separately blocking a related mask ban challenged in the same litigation.
The Ninth Circuit has now reversed the district court on the identification requirement. Writing for the panel, Judge Mark J. Bennett said the act's Section 10 explicitly overrides the federal government's power to determine whether, how and when to publicly identify its officers. The panel held that states may not directly regulate the operations of the federal government, and concluded the federal government is certain to succeed in its lawsuit. Judges Daniel Collins and Jacqueline Nguyen completed the panel. Bill Essayli, the acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, welcomed the ruling on October 14, calling it a major win for the Supremacy Clause. California officials have not yet announced whether they will seek rehearing by the full court.
Sources: The Hill reporting via The National News Desk, October 14, 2026; New York Post reporting, October 14, 2026.
Source: 《国会山报》
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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