‘Crucial Ruling’: Appeals Court Delivers Big Setback for Newsom’s Push Against ICE

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Trump administration to block a California law aimed at forcing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to remove masks. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi heralded the court ruling in an X post. 

“Our @thejusticedept attorneys are fighting daily in court to protect law enforcement — and we just secured another key victory,” Bondi said.

The 9th Circuit issued a full stay to block the No Secret Police Act, signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to force the unmasking of federal law enforcement, based on the supremacy clause. 

“Law enforcement officers risk their lives for us, only to be doxxed by radical anti-police activists. Unacceptable,” the attorney general added. “This crucial ruling protects our brave men and women in the field. We will not stop fighting bad laws like these in California and across the country.”

Newsom signed the law in September 2025, which only referenced federal, city, and county law enforcement, but did not apply to state law enforcement. 

In an X post Thursday, Newsom stood by the law, saying, “Donald Trump’s federal agents should be unmasked and identifiable. Period, full stop.”

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder, appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled the state law discriminates against federal law enforcement, as it allowed state police to wear masks to conceal their identities while preventing federal law enforcement from doing the same.