This Thursday at 6:30 PM, I will be speaking on property rights and eminent domain reform in Virginia at the Old Dominion Boat Club in Alexandria. I will be joined by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, or perhaps it is more correct to say that I will be joining the AG. The event is open […]
Archive | Kelo
A Dubious Attack On Virginia Eminent Domain Reform Referendum Question 1
By Ilya Somin on October 20, 2012 12:15 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In Friday’s Washington Post, state legislators Scott Surovell and Linda Puller published an op ed attacking Question 1, the eminent domain reform referendum question that Virginians will vote on in November. Unfortunately, their arguments are off-base, and some are seriously misleading. Question 1 would amend Virginia’s Constitution to forbid economic development takings of the kind […]
Thoughts on the Virginia Eminent Domain Reform Referendum Question
By Ilya Somin on October 16, 2012 4:24 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Various people have asked me what I think of Virginia Question 1, the eminent domain reform referendum question that will be on the ballot in November. Question 1 is one of many eminent domain reform referendum questions developed as part of the political backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New […]
Using Eminent Domain to Take Property For Universities
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting article on the use of eminent domain to forcibly acquire land for universities. It quotes various scholars and commentators on the subject, including yours truly: At a time when public university leaders regularly point to the advantages that private institutions have enjoyed over them in recent years […]
Eminent Domain Abuse in Virginia
By Ilya Somin on May 15, 2012 11:20 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist A. Barton Hinkle recently published this piece on a case of eminent domain abuse in Virginia: As a general rule, progressives do not get worked up about property rights the way conservatives do. This is a mistake — as a case out of Norfolk shows. To the progressive eye, property is bound […]
Eminent Domain and the Keystone Pipeline Project
By Ilya Somin on May 9, 2012 3:06 pm in Energy, Environment, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
The New York Times has an article describing how the TransCanada corporation is using eminent domain to forcibly acquire property to build the Keystone oil pipeline: When the TransCanada men first came, Julia Trigg Crawford said, they were polite. They offered money. Seven thousand dollars to let the Keystone XL pipeline cross her family’s 600-acre […]
Libertarianism and Absolute Property Rights
Although I’m a strong advocate of property rights, I agree with most of what Georgetown political philosopher Jason Brennan says on the subject at the Bleeding Heart Libertarian blog: The left believes that libertarians believe: Property Rights No Matter What: People are self-owners. Respecting their self-ownership requires a particular kind of laissez-faire property-rights regime. We […]
My Upcoming Talk at Tulane on Property Rights Since Kelo
This Thursday at 4 PM, I will be speaking on “Property Rights Since Kelo” at Tulane Law School. Thanks to the Tulane Federalist Society for inviting me. Much has happened on both the legislative and judicial fronts in the last few years. Considerable progress has been made in protecting property rights against abusive takings, but […]
University of North Carolina Talk on Property Rights Since Kelo
This Thursday at noon, I will be speaking at the University of North Carolina Law School on “Property Rights Since Kelo.” Much has happened on both the legislative and judicial fronts in the last few years. Considerable progress has been made in protecting property rights against abusive takings, but much work remains to be done […]
The Green Costs of Kelo Revisited
By Jonathan H. Adler on February 29, 2012 12:33 pm in Eminent Domain, Energy, Environment, Kelo, Property Rights
In 2006, Ilya and I co-authored “The Green Costs of Kelo: Economic Development Takings and Environmental Protection,” in which we argued that allowing the use of eminent domain for economic development was bad for environmental conservation. Environmentalist advocates responded with disbelief. The Community Rights Counsel (the precursor to the Constitutional Accountability Center) went so far […]
What if Kelo v. City of New London Had Gone the Other Way?
By Ilya Somin on February 13, 2012 10:45 am in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
My new article “What if Kelo v. City of New London Had Gone the Other Way?” is now available on SSRN. It is part of an Indiana Law Review symposium on “What if? Counterfactuals in Constitutional History.” Here is the abstract: Kelo v. City of New London is one of the most controversial decisions in […]
Justice Stevens on Kelo
By Ilya Somin on November 16, 2011 3:59 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, retired Justice John Paul Stevens defended his controversial majority opinion in Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that it was permissible for government to condemn private property for transfer to private parties in order to promote “economic development.” The Court ruled that this was a permissible […]
Justice Stevens Defends Kelo
The WSJ‘s Jess Bravin reports on an interview with recently retired Justice John Paul Stevens in which he defended his “most unpopular opinion” — Kelo v. New London — from recent criticism by Justice Antonin Scalia (see here and here). “It’s the most unpopular opinion I ever wrote, no doubt about it,” Justice Stevens said […]
Scalia Predicts that Kelo Will be Overruled
In a recent public appearance, Justice Antonin Scalia predicted that Kelo v. City of New London will eventually be overruled, perhaps soon [HT: George Mason law student Michael Mortorano]: Scalia predicted the court’s 2005 “Kelo” decision saying local governments can take take property from one owner to give to a developer will be reversed someday. […]
My US Commission on Civil Rights Testimony on the Impact of Eminent Domain Abuse on Minority Groups
By Ilya Somin on September 22, 2011 11:14 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights, Racism
On August 12, I testified at a US Commission on Civil Rights hearing on the “Civil Rights Implications of Eminent Domain Abuse.” The video of the oral testimony is available here. I have now made my more detailed written testimony available online here. Here is the Introduction, which includes a summary of the rest [footnotes […]