Supreme Court upholds government land grabs for developers (Something is freezing over)

WSWS ^ | 6/27/05 | John Andrews and Barry Grey

[RockinRight]

GHWB gave us one horrible Justice and one Great one...

[Frank_Discussion]

They can try...

[cvq3842]

I know what you mean . . .

[mlo]

There is nothing democratic about either this decision or the process. These 9 ideologues were not elected and the citizenry has no recourse to them (aside from mugging if they can get past security).

Which is precisely why the decision IS democratic. They left it up to the democratic process. Prohibiting our democratic bodies from taking these actions would have been UN-democratic.

This just demonstrates why democracy is not a goal in itself. The goal is protecting our rights. Democracies can violate those rights just as effectively as other forms of government.

[handy old one]

DUmmies don't like it. Here is their post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1887839

[rollo tomasi]

These "progressives" amuse me to no end. The wacko crowd is oblivious to the fact that Big Government is Big Business best friend.

[Czar]

They issued the ruling. Now lets see if they can live with it.

If I were those five be-robed liberals, I wouldn't be counting on any sort of favorable legacy. These fools may well be remembered as placing the final straw on the pile of straws representing a long line of federal court transgressions against the constitutional rights of American citizens.

As an institution, the SCOTUS will now be considered just as bad as the Legislative branch, and one no longer posessing the moral authority to continue.

[TomasUSMC]

This would be the PERFECT launching pad for a third party. A populous party.

You have liberals and conservatives outraged.

Bring the wing tips together!

[Borges]

We aren't close enough to a Presdiential election year to allow this ruling to have the impact it may have had. This looks like the sort of thing an H. Ross Perot type could have capitalized on. Come to think of it today is HRP's 75th birthday.

[Calpernia]

Bump!

[Eastbound]

"While the practice of condemning small private parcels for larger private developments has been ongoing for decades, last week’s decision is the first by the Supreme Court to hold expressly that “promoting economic development is a traditional and long accepted function of government” which justifies using eminent domain to seize land for private developers as a “public use.”"

Hello, Supreme Court! Knock! Knock! Hey, is anybody home? Tell us why this has been going on for decades? I thought we folks established goobernment to prosescute property theft. Oh, I get it. Don't hear any cases on this for 20-30 years and then justify your decision claiming it's an 'ancient custom.'

Well guess what? It's an ancient custom to change governments when the people wake up find themselves living under tyranny.

[G Larry]

Did the Supremes make the land grabbers bullet proof?

[frankiep]

Despite the lineup of dissenters—right-wingers William Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, along with “swing” justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the decision is deeply anti-democratic.

[snowsislander]

President Reagan made a huge error in not fighting harder for Robert Bork.

I am not so sure that Mr. Bork would have voted for the property owners. As far as I know, he has yet to take a public stance on Kelo, and I would be unsurprised if he voted against the property owners and for the city of New London.

[RogueIsland]

The court might have ruled that these takings were prohibited, which may have been the right decision, but it wouldn't have been a democratic one.

Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. That's why we used to have a Constitution to protect the sheep. That was before it was used as toilet paper.

[one more state]

Someome should look into a petition or referendum on the city, county, state or federal level to condem the homes of New London's mayor and counsel homes to put up parks in their honor.

[sockmonkey]

Ping to myself