After US Judge Blocks California’s ICE Mask Ban, Scott Wiener Says He Will Make It Enforceable

A federal court blocked enforcement of a California law barring federal and local officers from wearing masks, while finding that the state’s ban is not inherently unconstitutional — a ruling the law’s Democratic author framed as a win.

U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder ruled in her preliminary injunction that by excluding California law enforcement agents from its ban on masking, SB 627 likely violates a federal doctrine that prohibits state laws from discriminating against the federal government.

In response, state Sen. Scott Wiener — who wrote the original bill — immediately announced new legislation to add state law enforcement officers to the masking ban. Wiener removed state officers from SB 627 at the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, but said he believes the politics have changed as public backlash has grown to President Donald Trump’s deportation push.

“This court ruling is a huge win, because the federal court ruled that California has the power to ban federal agents, including ICE, from wearing masks and that we simply have to add state police back into the law to make it enforceable,” Wiener said.

The Trump administration sued over the masking ban in November, and also took aim at another bill, SB 805, requiring law enforcement agents to visibly display their agency and a name or badge number. In a win for California, Snyder on Monday ruled that the state can enforce the identification provision.

The 30-page ruling from Snyder, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, comes as public outrage grows over how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents conduct themselves — anger that has spread in the wake of the killings of two American citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis.

The state of Washington passed its own mask ban last month, and similar bans are being considered by other Democratic-led states, like New Jersey, Oregon, New York and Illinois.

Democrats in Congress have also seized on the issue, refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security without reforms and greater accountability. Among their demands: a ban on masking by federal agents.

Wiener said that while constitutional experts had advised him that SB 627 would pass constitutional muster even without including state law enforcement, he respects the court’s contrary stance. Wiener said he believes there will be support in the California Legislature to add state law enforcement back in.

“We are in a very different world right now than we were in the summer of 2025,” he said. “Things were bad last year, but they have only gotten worse since then, particularly given what happened in Minneapolis.”

He continued: “People do not want masked law enforcement in their communities, people want to be able to see who is patrolling their communities, people understand that if ICE and any other law enforcement wear ski masks, that creates an atmosphere of impunity and terror, and prevents accountability.”

But it’s not clear if Newsom would sign such a bill. In response to the ruling, his press office wrote on social media, “Mr. Wiener rejected our proposed fixes to his bill — language that was later included in the identification bill the court upheld today. He chose a different approach, and today the court found his approach unlawful.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the ruling on X, calling it “ANOTHER key court victory.”

“Following our arguments, a district court in California BLOCKED the enforcement of a law that would have banned federal agents from wearing masks to protect their identities,” Bondi wrote. “We will continue fighting and winning in court for President Trump’s law-and-order agenda.”

In court on Monday, Snyder dismissed several arguments the Trump administration has made to justify why agents should be allowed to mask.

She noted that there are no federal laws or regulations that require federal law enforcement officers to wear facial coverings or conceal their identity, and “in fact, some federal laws and regulations require visible identification in certain circumstances.”

Historically, she noted, federal officers have not been masked.

Snyder also found that the federal government “has not met its burden to show that enforcement of the challenged provisions … would interfere with or take control of federal law enforcement operations,” — comparing them to traffic laws that dictate how a federal officer may drive on state roads.

And she rejected the argument that bills will put officers at risk of attacks and physical harm, noting that the potential harms cited in court — including doxing, threats and assault — are all crimes themselves.

“A rule that prohibits law enforcement officers from wearing masks or requires them to have visible identification does not facilitate or enable criminals to harm law enforcement officers,” she wrote. To the contrary, she added later, the “presence of masked and unidentifiable individuals, including law enforcement, is more likely to heighten the sense of insecurity for all.”

And in a clear rebuke to statements made by Vice President JD Vance and others after the Minneapolis shootings, Snyder noted that, “The law is clear that federal officers do not have absolute immunity from state prosecution.”