A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked Philadelphia from enforcing against federal officers a law that restricted law enforcement officers’ use of masks, concealed identification and unmarked vehicles.U.S.District Judge Chad Kenney, issued a preliminary injunction blocking Philadelphia from enforcing the mask ban and other restrictions against federal officers before they are set to take effect on Tuesday.The judge ruled that the city cannot determine how federal officers conduct operations, siding with the Justice Department, which sued last month and argued the measure was a "blatantly unconstitutional" attempt to regulate federal agents."When the Philadelphia City Council voted to pass Bill No.
260060 … it attempted to sidestep the Constitution’s clear mandate and disregarded this fundamental principle of law that has informed American jurisprudence for over 200 years," Kenney wrote, citing the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal law preempts state and local law in cases of conflict.DOJ ESCALATES BLUE-STATE ICE STANDOFF AFTER STATES REFUSE KEY FEDERAL REQUESTA federal judge temporarily blocked a Philadelphia law that prohibited federal officers from wearing masks on duty.(Victor J.
Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)"Endorsing the City of Philadelphia's position would mean ...municipalities could decide whether to pass their own laws regulating how, when, where, and whether federal law enforcement officers can conceal their identities," he added.Philadelphia's mask ban against federal officers was approved earlier this year as part of a larger legislative package passed by the City Council amid a national debate over masked immigration agents carrying out raids targeting migrants in communities across the country, with some of these agents documented shooting people, including two U.S.
citizens in Minneapolis in January.The measure applied to local, state and federal law enforcement officers, but Thursday’s injunc...