DOJ cites Supremacy Clause in challenge to state, county laws
The Justice Department filed suit against Maryland, its attorney general, the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission, and Prince George’s and Montgomery counties on Thursday. The complaint argues that laws prohibiting federal law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings and requiring them to provide identification constitute an illegal attempt to regulate the federal government in violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
The lawsuit is the eighth the Justice Department has filed against states over laws that restrict federal agents’ ability to wear masks or require them to identify themselves, part of a broader legal conflict over state and local limits on federal immigration enforcement.
“These Maryland state and local laws are a direct regulation of federal law enforcement operations and threaten severe consequences for officers and public safety alike,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said. “The federal government, not state and local governments, gets to decide which equipment federal officers may or may not wear when performing their official duties.”
The Justice Department also argued in its statement that the laws threaten officer safety, saying federal officers “have faced an unprecedented wave of harassment, doxing and even violence.”
Maryland House Speaker Joseline Pena-Melnyk, a Democrat, said in a statement that she is confident the state attorney general will defend the law.
“Marylanders have a right to know when someone exercising the extraordinary authority of law enforcement is acting under the color of law,” she said. “We stand behind the values that guided its passage: public safety, accountability and trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”
The Maryland General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1 in April to improve federal government transparency and make it easier to identify and hold accountable federal immigration agents who break the law. Montgomery County passed a similar law weeks later; Prince George’s County followed in May.
Maryland lawmakers acted after federal immigration agents flooded some cities during the winter, conducting arrests and other actions critics said were illegal, including fatally shooting two U.S. citizens amid protests.
The Trump administration has pursued an immigration enforcement campaign that has included high-profile operations by masked federal agents conducting mass arrests and deportations in cities. Several other states have passed similar laws in response, attracting federal lawsuits.
In Montgomery County, Councilmember William Jawando said the county would defend its Unmask ICE Act, calling it “a lawful exercise of the county’s authority to protect public safety within its borders.”
“Montgomery County residents deserve to know who is acting in the name of the government,” Jawando said. “Those who wield the authority of government must be willing to identify themselves to the people they serve. Montgomery will continue to stand for the safety and rights of every resident.”