In a major Supreme Court victory for property rights, the Supreme Court ruled against the government in Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District, an important Takings Clause case that I described here here. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion for a 5-4 Court split along ideological lines. This was an unexpected outcome because […]
Archive | Property Rights
Landowners Win in Koontz
The Supreme Court decided in Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District that mitigation requirements imposed on land-use permits are subject to the nexus and proportionality requirements of Nollan and Dolan. The decision was 5-4, and probably represents the most significant property rights decision in several years. Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion. Justice […]
New Jersey Legislature Passes Ineffective Eminent Domain “Reform” Law
By Ilya Somin on June 23, 2013 11:45 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Political Ignorance, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
New Jersey is one of only six states that have not enacted an eminent domain reform law since the the Supreme Court’s controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that state and local governments have the power to condemn private property and transfer it to other private interests in order […]
Still Waiting for the Koontz Decision
Among the many important decisions not issued by the Supreme Court this week, it’s easy to forget about Koontz v. St. John’s River Water Management District, which I described here. As co-blogger Jonathan Adler wrote in January, “this could be a very important case — easily the most important property rights case heard by the […]
The Ongoing Saga of the Private Property Rights Protection Act
By Ilya Somin on June 17, 2013 1:10 pm in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Political Ignorance, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Last week, the House Judiciary Committee passed the Private Property Rights Protection Act, which would prevent local governments that engage in Kelo-style economic development takings from receiving federal economic development funds. As I explained in a post last year (which explains the bill in more detail), this legislation has been kicking around Congress since 2005. […]
A Modest But Potentially Significant Supreme Court Victory for Property Rights
By Ilya Somin on June 10, 2013 7:50 pm in Just Compensation Clause, Property Rights, Regulatory Takings
To the disappointment of court-watchers, the Supreme Court did not announce any high-profile decisions today. But it did issue a unanimous opinion in Horne v. Department of Agriculture, a notable Takings Clause property rights case. The Hornes are California raisin farmers seeking to challenge the constitutionality of a provision of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act […]
Yun-chien Chang on Takings Compensation
How much should the government pay to compensate property owners whose land it has condemned? Legal scholars, jurists, and economists have been debating this issue for centuries. The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fifth Amendment’s value requirement of “just compensation” as requiring “fair market value” compensation – roughly the amount of money that the property […]
Interesting Missouri Supreme Court Decision Interpreting the State’s Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform Law
The Supreme Court of Missouri recently issued Missouri Ex. Rel. Jackson v. Dolan, an important decision interpreting the state’s post-Kelo eminent domain reform law, which bans the use of eminent domain to condemn property for “solely economic development purposes.” As Robert Thomas points out at the Inverse Condemnation Blog, the ruling gives the statute more […]
Illinois Senate Passes Bill Authorizing the Use of Eminent Domain to Take Property for Casinos
The Institute for Justice, a leading libertarian public interest law firm that has litigated numerous property rights cases, reports that the Illinois state senate has passed a bill authorizing the use of eminent domain for the benefit of casinos: The bill passed 32-20 in the state Senate on May 1 and is now being considered […]
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Important Property Rights Case
As Damon Root notes, The Supreme Court recently refused to consider Ilagan v. Ungacta, an important Public Use Clause property rights case. I wrote an amicus brief on behalf of numerous public interest organizations and law professors urging the Court to take Ilagan and use it as an opportunity to clear up major ambiguities left […]
Don’t Believe the Denials – Alabama Really Did Undermine its Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform Law
Last week, I blogged about how the Alabama state legislature recently adopted a bill that undermines its post-Kelo eminent domain reform law and opens the door to the taking of private property for transfer to a wide range of politically connected private interests. Two state senators who sponsored the law have claimed that their bill […]
Alabama Undermines its Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform Law
By Ilya Somin on April 3, 2013 10:55 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that state and local governments could condemn property for transfer to private parties for “economic development,” 44 states passed eminent domain reform laws intended to curtail abusive condemnations. Many of the new laws only pretended to […]
University of Michigan Law School Talk on Property Rights Since Kelo
On Thursday, March 14, I will be giving a talk on “Property Rights Since Kelo” at the University of Michigan Law School. The event will run from 11:45 to about 12:50. I will cover both the legislative and judicial reactions to the Supreme Court’s controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which […]
Debate at Rutgers University Law School in Camden on Whether the Constitution Protects Economic Rights
On Monday, March 11, I will be debating Georgetown Law Professor Michael Seidman at the Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, NJ, on the subject of whether the Constitution protects economic rights, broadly defined to include property rights as well as freedom of contract. The event will begin at 11 AM and continue for […]
Regulatory Takings and “Lochnerism”: An Observation
By Jonathan H. Adler on February 28, 2013 9:08 am in Due Process Clause Property Rights, Property Rights, Regulatory Takings, Uncategorized
It is often argued that regulatory takings doctrine is a form of “Lochnerism” and a revival of “substantive due process” constraints on economic regulation. So, for instance, in his Dolan v. Tigard dissent, Justice Stevens traces the history of the doctrine to the Lochner period and finds the roots of regulatory takings doctrine in late-19th century substantive due […]