Trump scores win from liberal-leaning 9th Circuit in ICE enforcement showdown

The Trump administration scored a victory at a liberal-leaning appeals court Wednesday, which temporarily blocked a section of a California law requiring plainclothes federal law enforcement agents to show their badges and identification when carrying out operations.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Trump administration was "certain to succeed" in its lawsuit against California, finding that the No Vigilantes Act’s identification requirement violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which says federal law takes priority when it conflicts with state law.

"Section 10 explicitly overrides the federal government’s power to determine whether, how, and when to publicly identify its officers," the panel wrote.

The preliminary injunction comes from a federal appeals court that has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration over some of its signature immigration policies, including blocking efforts to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities in 2018, restricting attempts to tighten asylum eligibility that same year and refusing to reinstate Trump's travel ban targeting several predominantly Muslim countries in 2017.

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The ruling comes as a major blow to California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely viewed as a 2028 presidential hopeful. Newsom has positioned himself as a leading opponent of Trump's immigration agenda, signing a series of laws aimed at protecting immigrant communities, restricting federal immigration enforcement operations and increasing oversight of federal agents in the state.

The Trump administration sued California over provisions in the No Vigilantes Act and No Secret Police Act, which restricts law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings, in November 2025. Judge Christina Snyder, a Clinton-appointed judge, initially blocked the No Secret Police Act's mask restriction for federal officers but declined to block the No Vigilantes Act's identification requirement.

The Trump administration appealed Snyder's decision on the identification requirement, and the 9th Circuit temporarily blocked its enforcement in February before granting an injunction pending appeal in April.

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California argued that its identification requirement did not amount to an unconstitutional regulation of the federal government because a state law crosses that line only when it "impose[s] substantial burdens on federal operations."

But the appeals court ruled that the state never had the authority to directly regulate federal officials.

"The burden of the regulation on federal operations, whether substantial or otherwise, is irrelevant," the court wrote.

The liberal appeals court ruling drew praise from Trump administration officials, including Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division.

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"The Ninth Circuit agrees that California cannot regulate federal law enforcement," Schumate wrote on X.

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"Today, the Ninth Circuit again affirms what common sense makes clear: California cannot regulate how Federal law enforcement officers carry out their jobs authorized by Congress," Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Jr. wrote on X. 

"Today's decision is a huge WIN for protecting the safety of our Nation's law enforcement officers and ensuring @POTUS 's promise to enforce our Nation's immigration laws."

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for comment.