The Department of Justice files a lawsuit against California’s new Federal land acquisition law

  According to this story the Department of Justice has filed another lawsuit against the State of California–this time against the state’s new law which took effect on January 1st which gave the state the right of first refusal for purchasing Federal land within the state. Here is more:

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against California over a state law giving it the power to override the sale of federal lands, the department announced Monday.

The suit marks the latest battle between President Trump and the nation’s most populous state, where Democrats have tried aggressively to thwart the president’s agenda. Last month, Sessions visited Sacramento to announce he was suing California over laws that restrict cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Under the law, which was passed in September, California has the first right to purchase federal lands or to arrange for a specific buyer. Lawmakers had expressed concerns that the Trump administration would allow more logging, oil drilling or development.

The Justice Department says California’s law, which took effect Jan. 1, is delaying land sales — even for projects that have been in the works for years — and is depressing their value. The auction of 1.7 acres owned by the U.S. Postal Service was suspended when nobody bid, and a developer looking to purchase property at the now-closed Naval Air Station Alameda has requested a delay, the lawsuit contends.

  Article IV, Section 3, Paragraph 2 has been interpreted to mean the Federal government has the authority to sell Federal land. Jeff Sessions is using this clause as justification for suing California, as well as the fact that when California was admitted into the Union it agreed not to interfere in the sale of Federal land:

“The Constitution empowers the federal government—not state legislatures—to decide when and how federal lands are sold,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “California was admitted to the Union upon the express condition that it would never interfere with the disposal of federal land. And yet, once again, the California legislature has enacted an extreme state law attempting to frustrate federal policy.”

  If this is true, and I am inclined to believe it is, than California cannot simply write a law overriding the conditions set when the state joined the union just because the state does not like who it thinks the Federal government is going to sell the land to.

  If the land was lawfully ceded to the Federal government it is their’s to do with what they want. I might believe the Federal government owns to much land but that is irrelevant to this case.

  This should be an open and shut case but we can never predict what the courts are going to do, especially since Donald Trump became President, so all bets are off.

malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium