C-Objectively

If you don’t know what “eminent domain” refers to, please see here. Essentially its the idea that government entities can take your property from you to use it for the public good or to clean it up if you are turning it into a slum. And they reimburse you an amount considered fair to be, well, fair.

The problem is that more and more often, local governments are using the power of eminent domain to take over properties, both commercial and residential, for the purposes of incoming commercial development in the city. These developments are backed by large development companies whose job it is to go around building giant shopping malls, theatres, and wherever else people like to blow their money these days. There was a question of whether or not these kinds of developments, which were in essence being planned and funded by private parties with the intention of making them money, were valid “public good” reasons to invoke the power of eminent domain.

Well that question was answered a few days ago with a ruling by the Supreme Court. They ruled, 5-4, that it would be up to local governments and municipalities to decide what the “public good” was, whether it meant finishing a road the city needed or building a new Super Wal-Mart.

And now, because they realize that this is an insane power to give to greedy-for-more-tax-revenue local governments, Congress has already begun proposing and passing bills to curtail federal funding to any cities who seize properties for use by other private parties. I don’t know where all this is going to end but I hope that the conclusion is a reasonable restoration to what I believe the eminent domain clause in the 5th Amendment really meant. I just thought I’d get the word out on what I think is an important topic.

Oh and did I mention, with Sandra Day O’Connor resigning from her post as a Supreme Court Justice, odds are good that GWB will appoint not one but TWO Justices during this term in office. I am speechless when I think of the possibilities.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 2nd, 2005 at 1:29 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.