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To: 4ConservativeJustices
Whether or not the federal government agreed to it, the states could do what they wanted with respect to properties within their borders.

And I will ask again for an example which supports your claim. Point out one instance where a state or local government siezed federal property under eminent domain without the prior approval of the federal government.

313 posted on 10/02/2002 3:35:16 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur
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To: Non-Sequitur
In State Of Ga. v. City Of Chattanooga, 264 US 472, (1924), Justice Butler wrote "[t]he power of the city to condemn does not depend upon the consent or suability of the owner," even when the property was owned by a sister state.

But you are requsting a case where Federal property was taken via eminent domain without the prior approval of the federal government.

The Illinois legislature chartered a railroad and gave it eminent domain powers, the "power to build, maintain and use a railroad bridge over the Mississippi River, or that portion within the jurisdiction of the State of Illinois, at or near Rock Island."  Rock Island had housed Ft. Armstrong, which had been abandoned in 1836.   The railroad took part of Rock Island for a bridge, even though it was federal property.  In United States v. Railroad Bridge Co., 6 McLean 517, (1855), Justice McLean wrote that when "the site is abandoned, the reserve falls back into the mass of the public lands."  The railroad won.  

314 posted on 10/02/2002 2:44:40 PM PDT by 4CJ
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