The state of Maine wants the Trump administration out of its hair regarding the issuance of certain state license plates for federal agents, according to a filing in federal court earlier this week.

In May, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the Pine Tree State and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. The DOJ’s 18-page lawsuit alleges the Bureau of Motor Vehicles has denied requests from federal immigration agents for confidential, undercover license plates.

Bellows, for her part, previously said her agency, which oversees the BMV, would not issue unmarked plates to immigration agents unless she knows those plates “won’t be used for lawless purposes.”

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Now, Maine is asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit by staking out a concept of “dual sovereignty” federalism based on the jurisprudence of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

The state’s 21-page motion to dismiss begins with a lengthy quote from O’Connor about how the U.S. Constitution “protects us from our own best intentions [by dividing] power among sovereigns and among branches of government precisely so that we may resist the temptation to concentrate power in one location as an expedient solution to the crisis of the day.”

To hear Maine tell it, the Trump administration’s Supremacy Clause lawsuit forces the court “to confront whether that day has arrived.”

The state’s motion then quickly frames and answers the question.

“Can the federal government compel Maine’s Legislature and executive officials to exercise State police powers—specifically to issue confidential license plates for its fleet of federal law enforcement vehicles?” the lawsuit goes on. “The answer is triply: No.”

The filing argues that the Trump administration’s efforts are a “heavy-handed” attempt “to encroach upon Maine’s sovereignty” and have nothing to do with regulating the kinds of issues Congress could typically legislate.

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Maine argues that its license plate rules do not affect whether immigration agents can perform their jobs.

“Maine has not acted to ‘interrupt’ or stand between the federal government and enforcement of its immigration policies,” the motion continues. “Instead, Maine has merely opted not to contribute the State’s resources toward efforts that assist in disguising a different government’s vehicles from Maine’s citizens.”

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“Given the breathtaking scope of the federal government’s demand, it would be difficult to concoct a better example of an attempt to ‘commandeer state executive and legislative officials to implement federal policies’ in violation of the Tenth Amendment,” the motion to dismiss goes on. “The Court should not bless these efforts.”