AP Quotes Professor Johnson About California Law Banning Electric Shock Gloves
Professor Emeritus Kevin R. Johnson spoke to the Associated Press for a Sept. 29 story, "New California law bans officers from using gloves that deliver electric shocks."
The AP reports that the new legislation bans local, state and federal law enforcement officers from using electric shock gloves to subdue combative individuals. It will take effect next year and remain in place until 2030. The gloves are primarily intended for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to use.
Johnson told the AP that this law, and a California law barring ICE agents from using face masks, is "well-intentioned" but likely conflicts with the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
"The state has very limited, if any, powers in dictating to the federal government how its officers are armed," he said.
Kevin R. Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson is the director of the Aoki Center for Critical Race and Nation Studies and also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law and civil rights.