{"id":274963,"date":"2026-06-23T06:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T06:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/274963\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T06:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T06:54:08","slug":"doj-sues-new-york-over-law-barring-federal-agents-from-wearing-masks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/274963\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ sues New York over law barring federal agents from wearing masks"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Department of Justice is suing New York over a law set to take effect this week that would bar federal agents from wearing masks<\/a>, opening them up to \u201charassment, tracking, intimidation, and assaults.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate and other DOJ attorneys in the Civil Division filed the lawsuit Monday in Buffalo federal court, alleging that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tucked the unconstitutional law into the state\u2019s annual budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Hochul cannot tell Federal officers how to do their job,\u201d Woodward said. \u201cAnd she certainly cannot prohibit them from ensuring their own safety in conducting Federal law enforcement operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit, which also names New York Attorney General Letitia James, claims that the Face Covering and Identification Acts \u201cviolate the principles of intergovernmental immunity and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution,\u201d according to the 40-page filing, which notes that the law is set to take effect June 26.<\/p>\n

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, DEA agents and others would then be subject \u201cto criminal penalties\u201d for wearing masks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Monday against New York over a law set to take effect this week that would bar federal agents from wearing masks, opening them up to \u201charassment, tracking, intimidation, and assaults.\u201d Adam Gray for New York Post<\/p>\n

Other provisions in the Empire State budget also run afoul of federal law by requiring local governments to terminate enforcement agreements with the feds, the lawsuit contends. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe need to protect Special Agents\u2019 identities and association with DEA is not confined to activities which would compromise that particular investigation; rather, the exposure of Special Agents\u2019 identities and association with DEA even in an overt DEA operation could enable suspects to identify those agents who become involved in future undercover operations, which would obstruct those future actions,\u201d the suit states.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly, members of the public photograph, film, and publish federal enforcement actions online and include the personal identities of federal officers for the sole purpose of intimidation and harassment,\u201d it also notes. <\/p>\n

That information can be used by \u201crioters, illegal aliens and \u201chighly sophisticated gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13,\u201d among others, according to the DOJ officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the privacy and safety of law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like New York\u2019s,\u201d said Shumate.<\/p>\n

The DOJ has already filed suits in California, Virginia, and New Jersey \u2014 as well as the city of Philadelphia \u2014 against laws forcing agents to go maskless. All of the jurisdictions impose \u201csanctuary\u201d policies that limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf California and New York can impose these requirements, there\u2019s nothing that prevents them from, you know, in the next session saying, \u2018Federal agents can\u2019t even use marked cars,’\u201d a DOJ official told The Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a troubling new trend that started in California and other sanctuary jurisdictions are trying to follow the same lead of passing bills that target federal law enforcement officers directly and attempt to directly regulate how they do their jobs by banning masks and requiring federal agents to wear identification,\u201d the official also said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat puts agents\u2019 lives at risk, and so we\u2019re prioritizing these cases and filing lawsuits as quickly as we can,\u201d the official added.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Hochul cannot tell Federal officers how to do their job,\u201d Woodward said. \u201cAnd she certainly cannot prohibit them from ensuring their own safety in conducting Federal law enforcement operations.\u201d James Messerschmidt for NY Post<\/p>\n

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed her state\u2019s version of the law in March<\/a>, saying in a statement: \u201cWe\u2019re not going to tolerate masked roving militias pretending, pretending to be well-trained law enforcement agents.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals blocked California from implementing its version of the law<\/a>, but the official indicated that if another circuit court rules against the administration, it could prompt an appeal to the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute.<\/p>\n

Hochul and James responded to the DOJ\u2019s lawsuit with litigation of their own, asking the court to declare the Empire State\u2019s mask ban legal and block the Trump administration from \u201cinterfering with New York\u2019s authority to protect public safety, promote transparency, and govern the use of state and local resources.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy hiding their faces and refusing to wear identification, federal immigration officers endanger New Yorkers and intentionally evade accountability,\u201d James said in a statement. \u201cOur communities should not have to live in fear of being disappeared by unidentified masked agents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the privacy and safety of law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like New York\u2019s,\u201d said Shumate. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the federal government wants to brazenly defy our laws, then we will fight tooth and nail in court to ensure transparency and keep all New Yorkers safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hochul argued the anti-ICE measures \u201creflect New York\u2019s values,\u201d vowing, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to let anyone bully us into abandoning them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA badge carries with it a responsibility to uphold the public\u2019s trust,\u201d the governor said in a statement. \u201cNew Yorkers deserve to know who is enforcing the law in their communities and have the assurance that local resources are being deployed to protect public safety, not to intimidate or advance the agenda of a rogue federal agency.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week, the administration notified New York that it intended to sue the state over the legislation and seek emergency relief before the law takes effect.<\/p>\n

The state officials noted the Trump administration notified New York last week that it intended to sue and\u00a0 seek emergency relief before the law takes effect.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s lawsuit contends the state has a sovereign right under the Tenth Amendment to enact laws that protect public safety, promote transparency, and regulate conduct within its borders, and that the new laws establish basic public safety and transparency requirements for law enforcement officers operating in New York and protect the state\u2019s authority to decide how state and local resources are used.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The Department of Justice is suing New York over a law set to take effect this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[383,68,99374,9,11,10,49,51,50,87,58],"class_list":["post-274963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-department-of-justice","tag-exclusive","tag-mask-mandates","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-politics","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}