Supreme Court Drops The Ball On Property Rights
The Supreme Court really got it wrong in this 5-4 decision upholding the powers of redevelopment agencies to take peoples' homes just to give them to private mall developers and big corporations:
"Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes"
If you aren't familiar with the problem of eminent domain abuse, this 60 Minutes story gives a good overview. Guaranteed, you will be pissed off when you find out that this is going on in America:
Eminent Domain: Being Abused?
If you'd like to read about the problem in more detail, the Institute for Justice, in preparation to argue before the Supreme Court, documented every known case of eminent domain abuse in the country:
"Public Power, Private Gain"
(PDF 3.7 MB)
posted by Mike Laursen @ 8:34 AM
5 comments
links to this post
5 Comments:
The Court's opinions can be read here:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=04-108
The best phrase from Justice O'Connor's dissenting opinion: "But were the political branches the sole arbiters of the public-private distinction, the Public
Use Clause would amount to little more than hortatory fluff." At least I learned a new word, "horatory", from all this.
The decision does leave the door open for a California ballot initiative to prevent eminent domain abuse. It looks like Utah has passed such a law.
I think I could have done without learning a new word. This decision was just offensive. It did teach me that the conservative three on the bench (Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas) are good for something though.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go puke again.
After my initial disappointment in the decision, I calmed down and realized I can live with it. We can still do something about eminent domain abuse at the state level and local level.
yes, I forgot to mention that I think it is an excellent idea, mike.
I had the opportunity to attend a talk about the Kelo decision by Deborah J. La Fetra from the Pacific Legal Foundation. She is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar and been involved in arguing cases before that esteemed judicial body.
The most interesting thing I learned is that, usually, the Justices have already made their decisions and written them up BEFORE hearing the case. The main activity that goes on during the case is that each Justice askes questions to try sway other Justices to agree with his or her decision.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home