U.S. to sue California over law trying to curb federal land sales

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Monday it plans to file a civil lawsuit against California, alleging the state is violating the U.S. Constitution after it passed a law that aims to stop the Trump administration from selling or transferring federal lands into the hands of private corporations.

Monday's lawsuit, which will be filed in federal court in Sacramento, the state capital, comes approximately one month after the Justice Department filed a similar legal challenge over a handful of California's immigration laws.

"California has once again passed an extreme statute found in no other state to obstruct the federal government, this time by interfering with the conveyance of federal land," the Justice Department's acting No. 3 official, Jesse Panuccio, told reporters.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Leslie Adler)