Feds file suit against Virginia over laws barring Trump henchmen from masking up

The office of Gov. Abigail Spanberger is pushing back at the attempt of Trump henchman Todd Blanche to block new state laws set to go into effect on July 1 that will prohibit ICE, Border Patrol and FBI agents from wearing masks while on duty in Virginia, and nullify 287(g) agreements with MAGA county sheriffs in the Commonwealth.

“As a former federal law enforcement officer, Gov. Spanberger knows transparency, accountability, and a commitment to earning the public’s trust are prerequisite to upholding the rule of law and keeping Virginians safe. Law enforcement officers wearing masks on American streets undercuts these basic expectations of accountability, sows fear and confusion, and erodes the public trust that police have worked for years to build within their communities,” Spanberger’s office said on Friday in a statement on the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, at the behest of Blanche.

A press release from Blanche’s DOJ claims the new state laws “threaten the safety of federal officers who have faced an unprecedent wave of harassment, doxing, 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.”

“Law enforcement officers risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe, and they do not deserve to be doxed or harassed simply for carrying out their duties,” the release quoted Blanche, the acting attorney general, and former personal lawyer for Donald Trump, who seems most interested in retaining Blanche’s services to keep the Epstein files from being made public.

Perhaps these poorly trained federal agents shouldn’t be sent to the streets to detain people without warrants and shoot people in the face to show everybody else who’s boss.

“Gov. Spanberger cannot tell federal officers how to do their job,” the DOJ release quoted Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, which, point of fact, per the Constitution, yes, we can.

The feds are going to lose this case and others like it at the district court and appellate levels; they’re clearly aiming to get a test case to the Trump Court to see if they can get a 6-3 ruling in their favor there.