High Court: Govts Can Take Property for Econ Development

Bloomberg News

[Helmholtz]

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

[Paradox]

DUmmies are pissed off as well, and incredulous as to the liberal judges who did this. I propose that we have a Get Together, between Freepers and DUers, at the house of the original plaintiff, on the day his home is to be bulldozed. Get a big party together, and we can unite on this one topic, have some beers, tell some jokes..

Seriously, I would be up for that. Now that they know it was the liberal judges who did this, I wonder if and how soon they will modify their thinking, and lose their outrage. It will be interesting to notice how they try to justify this in their heads. I predict that most of them will either start to agree with the decision, or they will concoct some kind of conspiracy theory to explain this. They have to, the cognitive dissonance is just too painful.

[Outraged At FLA]

"If overall disapproval of the courts were as rampant as you incorrectly perceive, then things would be changed by the legislatures - which are the ultimate arbiters - via Constitutional amendment."

If you go to the liberal rag site MSNBC and view the poll they have on this, even the left says by over 90% (online poll) that this decision is wrong.

[chambley1]

Does the decision mean the City and County of San Francisco can seize a 9-5 Jiffy Lube for a 24/7 Fisting Emporium?

[OXENinFLA]

KELO v. CITY OF NEW LONDON [Property Rights Opinions]

Guess I shouldn't have put "Property rights" in the title, after today we don't have any.

[proud American in Canada]

Disgusting. All the judges who sided with this should have their house(s) replaced with a damn walmart

That's the thing that's so revolting about this decision--the elites in this country will never be in danger of having to uproot their families and losing a large part of the value of the biggest investment most people ever make.

On set of rules for the little guy, a completely different set for the wealthy and politically connected.

[RightWhale]

DUmmies are pissed off as well, and incredulous as to the liberal judges who did this

They blame conservative judges who they claim belong to the Pharisee branch of the Rupublican party. Nobody will win this high-marking contest.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Well Bush got close to a million votes in Chicago so I guess there are a few more. But without the RATmachine scandals reading the newspapers would be a LOT more boring.

[TXBSAFH]

One more thing, a lot of the "blighted" nieghborhoods are the ones that have housing that lower income and starting families can afford.

[SoCal Pubbie]

If I was a property owner who intended to fight an eminent domain action designed to give my land to another private citizen, I don't think I would relay on the courts. This ruling pretty much leaves you out in the cold. I think I'd play cold, hard, dirty politics, which is what the campaign contributions by the developers, and their golf outings with the local politicos were to begin with.

The money I might have spent on lawyers I would earmark for private detectives to dig up any and every bit of information on those involved, including politicians, developers, lawyers, and bureaucrats. Every wife of a hostile politician would learn of her husband's affairs, as would the local papers, every wife with a drug or alcohol problem would have it splashed across the front page. Homosexuals, swingers, and pedophiles would be outed. I would do nothing illegal, but if the system is stacked against you, you have to fight using other means. It is really the philosophy of guerrilla warfare.

I would have to carefully consider if I wanted to "fight to the death", with the knowledge that I would probably have any traffic infraction ticketed, and every violation of city codes at my house cited for as long as I lived there. If I went ahead anyway, I would try to make the price of running roughshod over me so high that the individuals in the city would back down. If I felt I was going to lose, but I still wanted to go down fighting, rather than chaining myself to the house getting arrested I would take the Samson option and try to take as many of my enemies with me as possible.

[Necrovore]

That is until they sit in the seat of corruption and forget who put them there like every single other politician. Name me one who stands for the citizens of the US? Name one who is not either a communist or an anarcho-capitalist and who sees the good of the country of the people by the people and for the people instead of their own selfish interests.

When was the last time you received a non form letter from your dear representatives up in Washington in response to a question? I just got two responses back from my Senators(Hutchinson and Cornyn) regarding what Turbin Dirtbag said. I get form responses on why we are at Guantanamo and what Guantanamo is used for. Try calling any phone lines you will NEVER speak to a human being.

Once again I challenge you to name me one politician who puts his constituents before his self interests.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Frightening, isn't it? I actually went there and read all the posts on this topic, and I must say there are some very intelligent posters on this subject.

Yes, what about renters? Our place was sold to be turned into commercial property, after it was sold. The new landlord is very cool, and is letting us stay until the end of the year. However, with rents being what they are(former high end mortgage payments), I'm not sure what we're going to do.

Years ago, this part of town was mixed use. They changed to commercial when sold. Feel bad for the people in the trailer park next door.

[Rutles4Ever]

Try this scenario on for size:

A government bank in China buys Unocal and takes your property to build a refinery where you live.

Theoretically, a foreign government could take your land!

[Eva]

I think that this is an issue that will change the demographics of the approval of the Supreme Court. I have been listening to the radio news of this ruling and the usual left leaning CBS News is reporting this as shocking. This is an issue that crosses party lines more than ever, with homeownership up dramatically.

This ruling is going to make a laughing stock of the Democrats when they try to filibuster the Bush appointments. Bush may as well go ahead and appoint Scalia to replace Renquist.

[jwalsh07]

Justice Kennedy has crossed the Rubicon, he has shed his faux libertarian waist coat and lo and behold we find a liberal with fascist tendencies. Disgusting.

[SoCal Pubbie]

You post echos my post 631.

[buckleyfan]

We have several threads going on this, but I want to add my outrage to each one of them I see. I am so pissed at SCOTUS for this un-Constitutional decision, basically de-criminalizing criminal behavior (theft and conspiracy, for starters).

[AntiGuv]

PS. And a significant part of the problem is that the other branches of our government have become as corrupted by power as the courts, and the people by and large don't care. The trajectory won't change until enough people identify the problem as the government overall, rather than merely the partisans on the other side. Most Americans want government to be the solution, they just squabble over what needs solving.

A house divided against itself cannot stand, and the people are intractably divided. A government by its very nature seeks to exercise power and to extinguish freedom. When eternal vigilance falters, it is ever at the ready to enter the breach. That's just the way it is.

[RightWhale]

Sen Ted Stevens.

Want more?

[MamaTexan]

This ballot box vs. ammo box choice is no choice at all.

Ah, but everyone seems to forget the third option- the JURY box.

Jury nullification is a legal standard whether the government likes it or not!

We have GOT to get anyone involved in an eminent domain case to USE that power the Founders gave us, and nullify this *legalized* theft!

________________________________________________________________

SAMUEL CHASE (Justice, U. S. Supreme Court and signer of the Declaration of Independence; in 1804): "The jury has the right to determine both the law and the facts."

U.S. v. DOUGHERTY, 473 F.2d. 1113, 1139 (1972): "The pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge...."

LORD DENMAN, (in C.J. O'Connel v. R. ,1884): "Every jury in the land is tampered with and falsely instructed by the judge when it is told it must take (or accept) as the law that which has been given to them, or that they must bring in a certain verdict, or that they can decide only the facts of the case."

[AntiGuv]

I don't doubt that, but to say that this decision is wrong is not to say that our system is wrong. If the intensity of opposition is truly what it appears to be at this time, then I expect the decision to be changed by the legislatures.