The U.S. Justice Department is suing Maryland to stop a state law that prohibits law enforcement officers from wearing masks.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, the same day the state law went into effect, argues the policy illegally regulates how the federal government does its job. Along with banning face coverings, the law requires officers, including federal agents, to display their last name, agency and badge number on their outermost layer of clothing.
Similar laws took effect in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties earlier this year and are also being challenged in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The efforts are largely aimed at addressing concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are hiding their identities when detaining people. The lawsuit seeks to strike down the local and state legislation.
The Justice Department argues that neither state nor local governments have the authority to control what equipment federal officers use to carry out their duties and that the laws threaten law enforcement officers’ safety.
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“They certainly cannot enact laws that place the safety of federal law enforcement at risk and undermine federal operations,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. said in a statement Thursday. “We will never tolerate the doxxing or harassment of federal officers, or any law like those in Maryland that enables violent behavior against federal law enforcement officers and their families.”
The lawsuit follows Trump administration challenges to similar laws in other states including New York, Virginia and California.
The Maryland Attorney General’s Office warned in a letter earlier this year that while the law is “not clearly unconstitutional,” it posed “significant constitutional risk” of being challenged in court under the supremacy clause, which allows federal laws to overrule state regulations when the two conflict. The Justice Department cites the clause in its lawsuit.
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