A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked Modesto from enforcing its ordinance that includes a ban on masks at protests.
U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez granted a preliminary injunction requested by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, freezing the ordinance until a final decision on the case is reached. He also denied the city’s request for a stay, which would have paused the court order pending an appeal.
Mendez found that the law isn’t “narrowly tailored” and that a blanket ban on masks isn’t a solution to public safety. He picked apart the ordinance’s exemptions to face-obscuring costumes, suggesting a violent agitator could bypass it entirely just by wearing a frog costume…