Federal government sues Denver over law enforcement mask ban

The federal government is suing Denver over its new law banning all law enforcement officers from wearing masks during arrests, saying it threatens the safety of federal officers who are facing harassment, doxxing and violence.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, challenges a law passed in March in response to concerns about masked immigration officers making arrests. The law also requires law enforcement officers to wear identification. 

The U.S. The Department of Justice said states and local governments do not have the authority to regulate the federal government under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. 

“The Denver masking and identification ordinance directly regulates federal law enforcement operations and threatens severe consequences for officers and public safety alike,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a Justice Department news release announcing the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Colorado.

In a statement, Jon Ewing, a spokesperson for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, said the law is “commonsense and Constitutional” and the city would defend it in court.

“Denverites deserve to know who is arresting them and what they’re being arrested for,” Ewing said.

In February, a California law banning federal officers from wearing masks was struck down by a judge who ruled it discriminated against the federal government because it didn’t apply to state law enforcement officers, too. However, the judge upheld a requirement that all law enforcement officers wear identification. 

Denver’s law, sponsored by city councilwomen Flor Alvidrez and Shontel Lewis, was passed in March and was shaped with the California ruling in mind. Denver’s law bans all law enforcement officers, not just federal ones, from wearing masks and requires all officers to wear identification, which officials believed would help the law withstand a legal challenge.