The panel said the U.S. will likely win its Supremacy Clause challenge, reversing District Judge Christina Snyder, who had refused to block the ID rule but had already blocked the law's separate mask ban.
The panel and the case
- Judge Mark Bennett (Trump nominee) wrote the opinion, joined by Jacqueline Nguyen (Obama nominee) and Daniel Collins (Trump nominee).
- The panel: the law "explicitly overrides the federal government's power to determine whether, how, and when to publicly identify its officers."
- Gavin Newsom (Gov-D California) signed the laws in September 2025; DOJ sued on Nov. 17, 2025.