Get past the paywall.

Wrote a Ronald Reagan-appointed judge last year in a different case: “ICE goes masked for a single reason — to terrorize Americans into quiescence.”

It’s also about honor, that judge added. “It should be noted that our troops do not ordinarily wear masks. Can you imagine a masked Marine?”

City police officers have been wearing professional uniforms, unmasked, for decades, while arresting dangerous street criminals.

So that’s the official debate. It was Sheriff Swank, a steadfast Trump supporter, who got to the nub of it from the MAGA perspective, however.

“I don’t recognize your authority.”

That’s the real significance of the masks. They say: We aren’t beholden to you. Not to state officials, the public, or the basic workings of democracy. You can’t touch us. You don’t even know who we are.