The lecture examines the case of national identification (I.D.) cards in the European Union (E.U.) and its member states, and in the United States (U.S.), from a comparative perspective. There will be a focus particularly on the recent E.U. Regulation 2019/1157 on the harmonization of the form and data included in national I.D. cards (in member states in which I.D. Cards are mandatory by law), including the highly controversial requirement that a facial photograph and two fingerprints of the owner are stored in digital form in the card, its annulment by the European Court of Justice (Case C-61/22), and its replacement by Regulation 2025/1208. Within the lecture, a comparison of the broader framework of national I.D. cards in Europe is contrasted to the equivalent framework (or lack thereof) in the U.S., as well as European countries following a similar (common law) tradition, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, with an analysis of the foundations of the differences between these two traditions from the perspective of political philosophy and philosophy of law.