WASHINGTON, June 13 -- The Trump administration went to court this week to defend its agents' right to hide their faces. The Justice Department sued the state of Virginia over a new law that would forbid federal immigration officers from wearing masks while making arrests, arguing that a state has no business telling Washington's agents what they may and may not put over their faces.

The complaint, filed on Thursday, targets two measures signed by Virginia's Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger. One bars law enforcement officers, federal agents included, from wearing facial coverings on the job and requires them to display identifying information; a companion law restricts the cooperation that state and local police may offer federal ...