Kelo vs. New London. The reason being that for a liberal prof this won’t ignite the kind of anger a topic like guns might. Kelo is a sympathetic figure. From a research standpoint it will be important to understand the majority decision and how it applied to the specific law in question, not just how it violated Ms. Kelo’s rights to property.
I second the idea of writing a paper on Kelo vs New London.
Pulling quotes from the SCOTUS arguments transcript, opinions and rounding out the report with a nice picture of the current vacant properties (screen-shot satellite view)
http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/04-108.pdf