High Court: Govts Can Take Property for Econ Development

Bloomberg News

[Helmholtz]

U.S. Supreme Court says cities have broad powers to take property.

[montag813]

Would you want to invest in private property anymore, knowing the government could swoop in and steal it at any time, for any reason??

That is very silly. If you buy a house in the middle of a field, sure there is some risk of that. But stay politically connected and you will hear of any plans well in advance. Buying homes in established residential areas carry zero risk. This decision sucks, but please don't scare people into thinking the government is about to seize everyone's homes.

[indthkr]

That's pretty much what happend when the railroads were built in the 1800's.

[Freebird Forever]

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Thomas Jefferson

[NonValueAdded]

Well now. The only way to overcome this is for Congress to pass a law that voids the decision. They can do it, but how to get it done?

You could wait forever for that to happen if you so choose. It would be easier to amend your own state constitution to clamp down on what is now permissible under the US Constitution. You won't be able to stop the feds from a taking but most actions are local. It does mean that the stakes just got raised in the election of local officials.

[SoFloFreeper]

Wow this is a great ruling. I have seen a couple of houses I would not mind owning. Now thanks to this if I claim I plan on fixing them up and upping the taxable value I can just kick the owners out and move right in. What? Only the Government can steal private property, what a bummer. Guess I'll just stay where I am.

No, no...just grease the palms of your local board of alderman, and I'm sure the eminent domain right will be invoked.

[stevio]

Wake up America we just lost another bit of freedom

We've lost a big chunk of freedom. This is no doubt another world view interpretation.

[Graymatter]

They should not be immune to recall.

I was watching "Caine Mutiny" last night. I have to say Queeg was not nearly as far off his trolley as some of the Supremes. Too bad we don't have much of a process for taking somebody's gavel away, because at least four of them are rattling like maracas in Junio.

[Colorado Doug]

This opens a Pandora's box for confiscatory zoning and other outright takings as well. The dilution of the bundle of property rights is now complete.

[Red Boots]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

[Dead Corpse]

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God ... (then) anarchy and tyranny commence. Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist.." -- John Adams

At one point in time, the Founders thought private property ownership so important that only landed men could vote.

Still think they didn't mean exactly what they said? All Rights are "private" property Rights.

[unixfox]

Can you spell R E V O L U T I O N !

I didn't think so. The sheeple have lulled into a coma and nothing will stop the tyrants now.

Coming up, the governments "right" to take away your guns.

[snowsislander]

Without having read the opinion (I don't see it on the Court's slip system), it appears that the definition of "public use" in the 5th Amendment has shifted from the direct use of the public at large ("...nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation") to a more derivative "public good" derived from "more taxes collected are more 'public good' created". But let's see what the opinion actually says, and maybe there is a further legal basis for this appalling decision.

But I have to say that the notions of property seem to have gone back to the days of the English monarchy, with the new-old doctrines of property somehow being capable of itself being 'criminal' and thus forfeitable, and now an eminent domain that appears to be capricious in the extreme.

[MrNeutron1962]

"This is VERY bad news. Just which so-called "justices" voted for this?"
<P
The ones that are beholden to Big Business.

[Regulator]

The tyrant is unmasked, we the people have lost all our rights. The government is our supreme master, we live to serve the state

Dead on. Note that they wrote that the government must have this power to "increase tax receipts". IOW, the value of our existence is only measured by how much money we can produce for our Masters, who live their lives in secure jobs with lifetimes of benefits. And if they don't have that, they'll just come and take it from us.

[AmishDude]

The thing is that most people won't care so much. If the city would offer me "fair market value" as determined by my tax assessments (I wouldn't be able to get much more anyway.) without me having to get an agent and fix and clean it and show it on the weekends and all of that garbage -- great! Show me the money!

It's non-residential property that is most affected.

[blaquebyrd]

"...2008, she'll be the President of the United States - and socialism will be our official policy."

And it's not now? Remember 3 of the 5 land grabbers were republican appointees. As an earlier poster stated this cuts across party lines. Hard to blame this one on liberal activist judges. The government won today and the citizens of this country lost. Bush needs to speak on this ruling so we can see where he stands.

[Dead Corpse]

Impeach them and try them for treason. At the very least impeach them and convict them of perjuring their Oath as judges.

[AntiGuv]

The Fifth Amendment clearly and explicitly recognizes private property and the boundaries within which government may encroach upon that.