[MarcusTulliusCicero]

This is definitely toothless. What you propose, i.e. cutting off funds for cities that confiscate property wouldn't fall under the purview of this amendment. That would have to be done by Congress since that reflect appropriations. This order covers executive departments and makes it policy that these department will only exercise eminent domain for public use instead of public benefit, which was the Kelo SCOTUS decision standard. However, the final section makes this order subservient to existing law, and, like it or not, existing law permits seizure for public benefit. So, the bottom line is that as long as executive departments adhere to this guideline the standard returns to pre-Kelo....but, and this is a big but, if, let's say, the Secretary of the Interior decides to ignore it and seize your land based on public benefit, you can't use this executive order as a defense in court to challenge that decision. Ergo, my characterization of it being toothless. It is symbolism over substance.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Nope, Kelo was in essence about the expansion of 'public use' to include takings strictly for 'economic development', and was that constitutional. The ruling was a narrow one that basically said that it wasn't in theory unconstitutional. But part of a court's opinion is often based on determining the will of the people, as expressed through the legislature, the voice of the people via the ballot box. What this EO does is put the administration on record as stating that 'economic development' alone is not a 'public use'. As an elected office, the President is similarly a voice of the people, though it would provide a stronger foundation if Congress was to pass a similar law expressing its intent on how far 'public use' should be defined.

This is not at all toothless, it is rather another tool in the battle taking place on the legal front, giving judges in future cases more ammo to use if they choose to. And as others have noted, there are other ways in which this EO will curtail takings for economic development. It is a multi-faceted approach.