By Chris Sheldon | NJ.com
nj.com
TRENTON, N.J. — The U.S. Department of Justice sued New Jersey over a law passed last month which bars both local and federal law enforcement officers — including ICE — from wearing masks during interactions with the public in the state.
The lawsuit, filed by President Donald Trump’s administration Wednesday in Newark federal court, names the state, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport as defendants, and called the law an “unconstitutional attempt to regulate federal law enforcement officers.”
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“The Department of Justice will steadfastly protect the privacy and safety of law enforcement from unconstitutional state laws like New Jersey’s,” assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett A. Shumate , of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.
The suit claims that the law threatens the safety of federal officers who have allegedly faced an unprecedented wave of harassment, doxing and violence.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials have said they will not follow the law and the suit reinforces that.
“To be clear, the federal government will not comply with this blatantly unconstitutional law,” it is stated in the suit. “But the threat of enforcement by defendants chills individual officers from protecting themselves and performing their duties. The consequences for public safety are severe.”
The suit asks a judge to declare the law unconstitutional and to stop New Jersey from enforcing it.
Davenport said the state looks forward to responding to the suit in court and said the law protects both law enforcement and the public by “limiting the use of masking while including careful exceptions to protect law enforcement safety and operational needs.”
“To this day, the federal government still cannot explain when its officials need to mask or forgo identification in violation of this law, or why they actually need to do so, particularly given the serious safety concerns inherent in anonymized policing,” Davenport said in a statement. " The federal government’s contrary approach will only undermine public trust and accountability, and make it easier for criminals to impersonate our officers”
The law build on a series of steps New Jersey Democrats have taken over the past year to restrict ICE’s footprint in the state, including an executive order Sherrill signed blocking the agency from state property and lawsuits aimed at stopping a detention facility in Roxbury from being built.
The Trump administration has sued the state over Sherrill’s executive order, escalating the tension between federal and state officials.
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