The U.S. Department of Justice sued St. Paul, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 15, challenging local laws that prohibit federal law enforcement officers from wearing masks and require them to provide identification.
The department said the ordinances violate the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause by allowing local governments to regulate federal officers.
The lawsuits claim the requirements also threaten the safety of federal officers who have faced an increase in harassment, doxxing, and violence.
“Under the Supremacy Clause of our nation’s Constitution, states and localities cannot regulate the federal government and its law enforcement officers,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. said in a statement.
Brett Shumate, an assistant attorney general for the DOJ, said the federal government, not state and local municipalities, decides which equipment federal officers wear.
“Two more cities—Portland and St. Paul—need to learn that state and local jurisdictions have no power to regulate federal law enforcement options,” Shumate said on X on Thursday.
The city of Portland stated in an email to The Epoch Times that it does not comment on pending litigation. The city of St. Paul did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The Portland City Council stated when passing the ordinance in May that “thousands of masked individuals wearing paramilitary gear and claiming to be federal agents have engaged in purported immigration enforcement actions across the country.”
The city council said the federal agents have created “an environment of profound fear,” and communities are unsure of the legitimacy of the individuals claiming to be federal agents.
“The inability to identify an officer and the agency they represent threatens the legitimacy of lawful enforcement,” the city council stated.
“Transparency and accountability are essential to maintain public trust. Unlike impersonators, legitimate law enforcement officers are public servants and can be held accountable for their actions.”
The lawsuits are part of a broader series of challenges to state and local policies that the department says interfere with federal law enforcement.
The DOJ has also challenged such policies in New York, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Philadelphia, Denver, and Milwaukee.
A federal appeals court said on Oct. 14 that a California law requiring federal officers to identify themselves is illegal and ordered a preliminary injunction barring its enforcement against them.
California’s No Vigilantes Act, which requires federal law enforcement officers to display identification when on duty, illegally regulates the conduct of federal officers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit judges ruled.
A federal district court judge blocked the part of California’s “No Secret Police” law that barred law enforcement officers from wearing masks in a Feb. 9 ruling.
The judge said the law discriminated against federal officers because it didn’t apply equally to all law enforcement officers in California.
Federal officials have said there has been a large increase in violence against federal agents under the Trump administration.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released data in November 2025 showing a more than 1,150 percent increase in assaults and violence against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement law enforcement officers as compared with the same period in 2024 under the Biden administration.
This article was originally published by The Epoch Times.
