A federal judge may have overstepped his bounds in ordering the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build housing at its West Los Angeles campus.
That was suggested by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard multiple appeals this week in a class-action case involving the 388-acre West L.A. VA Campus at 11301 Wilshire Boulevard, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The judge trio, while seeming to agree with a claim that the VA had failed in its duty to local veterans, raised concerns that a trial judge may have exceeded his authority with a sweeping order requiring the agency to build more homes.
The appellate case centers on a decision by U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter invalidating four leases of VA land to University of California, Los Angeles, and a K-12 school, while issuing an injunction ordering the agency to build thousands of homes for disabled veterans.