"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random," O'Connor wrote. "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."O'Connor is so right. Our basic American rights are being trampled by the SCOTUS majority.
The good news is that SCOTUS decisions are reversible. I hope that President Bush gets a chance to nominate 3 or 4 justices with an ounce of common sense.
IMHO, this is not a conservative-versus-liberal issue. This decision ignores just basic American tradition and constitutional law. What is Kennedy doing voting with the majority?
This ruling doesn't just say Wal-Mart can bribe the local government to bulldoze homes to make for a Wal-Mart. This ruling also says the local government can evict you from your home to make a homeless shelter, low-rent housing, go condo, or any other host of ideas a developer can have, and, believe me, the developers are salivating at this ruling.
want to say no to higher land rents (Read: Property Taxes)? Ha! The local government can evict you and sell the home to someone who doesn't mind the higher tax. How, you ask? Give them a minute, they'll figure out how to accomplish that.
This ruling goes WAY beyond simply allowing for SOME purposes of eviction. It goes all the way to allowing eviction for ANY purpose.