Trump administration sues California over sales of US land
SACRAMENTO — The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sued California over a law that aims to give the state power to override the sale of federal lands, the latest battle between President Donald Trump and the nation’s most populous state.
California vowed to fight for the state’s first right to purchase federal lands or to arrange for a specific buyer — part of an aggressive effort in the heavily Democratic state to thwart the president’s agenda in his first year. Lawmakers who passed the law last year cited concerns that the Trump administration would allow more logging, oil drilling or development on some of the 46 million acres owned by the federal government in California.
The Justice Department lawsuit, filed in federal court in Sacramento, argues that the state has no power to interfere with federal land sales, citing the Constitution and the 1850 act of Congress that admitted California to the union.
“Once again, the California Legislature has enacted an extreme state law attempting to frustrate federal policy,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.
The federal lawsuit comes less than a month after Sessions visited Sacramento to announce he was suing California over laws that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The state has sparred with the federal government in and out of court over a wide range of immigration and environmental policies, most recently over vehicle emissions standards and offshore drilling.
Sessions decried the mounting litigation between the Justice Department, California and other states asking judges to invalidate pieces of the Trump agenda. In a lengthy statement Monday, he blasted “ideological judging” and “limitless injunctions” that he says allow just one judge to tie up the administration’s policies.