The court found that the law unfairly discriminated against federal personnel by imposing restrictions that did not apply to their state or local counterparts. While the court acknowledged that federal duties could technically be performed without masks, it ruled that the specific targeting of federal agents created a legal imbalance that undermined federalist principles.
Despite this setback for state-led oversight, Governor Gavin Newsom secured a partial victory as the court upheld the companion “No Vigilantes Act.” This statute requires all officers, including federal agents, to clearly display agency affiliations and personal identifiers, such as badge numbers, on their uniforms. Newsom defended the measure as a necessary step for public transparency and civil rights, asserting that “no badge and no name mean no accountability.” These laws were originally drafted and signed last September in response to high-profile immigration enforcement operations that sparked significant public outcry across California. From the federal perspective,
