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"Eminent Domain Abuses Mount -- But Supreme Court Won't Reconsider
This week the U.S. Supreme Court turned away the chance to rehear and
reconsider one of its most-despised decisions in recent memory: its 5-4
ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, which allows the use of eminent
domain -- a fancy term for "the government stealing your home and business"
-- for private development.
"The denial makes it crystal clear that since the Supreme Court will not
protect home and small business owners, it is now up to state legislatures
and state courts to protect people from eminent domain abuse," said Scott
Bullock of the libertarian Institute for Justice civil rights group, which
fought the eminent domain battle all the way to the nation's highest court.
The Institute for Justice further notes that the Kelo decision has already
opened up the floodgates to eminent domain abuse.
Local officials in more than 30 cities have cited the Kelo ruling in moving
ahead with condemnations for private development. Dozens more projects
nationwide threaten thousands of home and small business owners.
Among the many projects buoyed by the Kelo ruling:
* Small businesses are being seized for more upscale businesses. Just hours
after the decision, officials in Freeport, Texas, began legal filings to
seize two family-owned seafood companies to make way for an $8 million
private boat marina.
* In three Missouri towns -- as well as other cities across the country --
homes are already being taken for shopping malls. On July 12, 2005, Sunset
Hills voted to allow the condemnation of 85 homes and small businesses to
make way for a $165 million shopping center and office complex. The City of
Arnold plans to take 30 homes and 15 small businesses, including the Arnold
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post, for a Lowe's and a strip mall. And in
late July a Missouri judge reluctantly condemned a home in an upscale St.
Louis neighborhood to be replaced with a shopping center. Basing his
decision on Missouri law and the Kelo decision, the judge lamented:
"Perhaps the people will clip the wings of eminent domain in Missouri, but
today in Missouri it soars and devours."
* Homes are also being taken to give space for builders to construct more
luxurious homes. In Long Branch, N.J., officials are poised to use eminent
domain to take the oceanfront homes of residents who stand in the way of
new luxury condos.
But libertarians and other citizens are fighting back. The Institute for
Justice and its "Castle Coalition" grassroots arm has launched a $3 million
"Hands Off My Home" campaign. The campaign supports eminent domain reform
at the state and local level and equips ordinary Americans with the means
to protect their homes, small businesses and churches from eminent domain
for private profit. Citizens can join the Castle Coalition and learn how to
get involved in Hands Off My Home at: www.castlecoalition.org"
(Source: Institute for Justice:
http://www.ij.org )