Earlier this week Professor Leslie Gielow Jacobs, Director of McGeorge’s Capital Center for Law & Policy, was interviewed by KCRA’s Mike Luery about recent actions by the federal government to reclaim nearly $1 billion pledged to California for the state’s high speed rail project that was authorized by voters in 2010. You can find the full story here.

In the video, Professor Jacobs is quoted as saying:

On who has the upper hand the upcoming legal fight over the money: “Obviously, the people who have the money have more power than the people who don’t.”

What to expect in response to the Trump administration’s letter indicating the federal government would be rescinding the grant funding: “Certainly, I would imagine California is going to try to provide a response. The question would be ‘What does that look like?’ and then if the federal government says, ‘We’re not going to give you this money’ I would imagine we’re going to see a lawsuit.”

Professor Jacobs was also quoted in the article section of the news story, saying about the case being made in the letter from the Trump administration to California, “This is a contract law issue. … California has fallen so short of its commitments – that is materially breaching the contract – which is what would give the federal government the ability not to give the money.”