WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, the Department of Justice filed two lawsuits against the Cities of St. Paul, Minnesota and Portland, Oregon, challenging their unconstitutional attempts to regulate federal law enforcement officers by prohibiting federal officers from wearing masks and requiring them to provide identification in the manner prescribed by Code of Ordinances of the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota §§ 268A–268B and P.C.C. §§ 23.30.030, 23.30.100.
Not only are these laws illegal attempts to regulate the Federal Government, but, as alleged in the complaints, the laws threaten the safety of federal officers who have faced an unprecedent wave of harassment, doxxing, and even violence. Threatening officers with prosecution for simply protecting their identities and their families also chills the enforcement of federal law and compromises sensitive law enforcement operations.
“Under the Supremacy Clause of our Nation’s Constitution, states and localities cannot regulate the Federal Government and its law enforcement officers,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. “And they certainly cannot enact laws that place the safety of federal law enforcement at risk and undermine federal operations authorized by Congress. This Department of Justice will never tolerate the doxxing or harassment of federal officers, or any law like those in St. Paul and Portland that enables violent behavior against federal law enforcement officers and their families.”
“These St. Paul and Portland local laws are a direct regulation of federal law enforcement operations and threaten severe consequences for officers and public safety alike,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “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.”
“Aside from being unconstitutional, laws like these impede federal law enforcement’s ability to keep Oregonians safe and endanger the brave men and women of federal law enforcement,” said U.S. Attorney Scott Bradford for the District of Oregon. “They live in our communities. Their kids go to school in our communities. They care about our communities. They are part of our communities. It is unfair and improper to vilify them for political purposes.”
Attorney General Blanche has instructed the Department’s Civil Division to identify state and local laws, policies, and practices that facilitate violations of federal laws or impede lawful federal operations. Today’s lawsuits are the latest in a series of lawsuits brought by the Civil Division targeting illegal policies designed to thwart federal law enforcement across the country, including in New York, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Philadelphia, Denver, and Milwaukee. Through these filings, the Department reaffirms that federal law enforcement operations cannot be compromised by state or local measures that violate federal law.
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