In this recent Wall Street Journal op ed, historian David Beito and economist Daniel Smith explain how respect for property rights enabled the city of Joplin, MO to recover from a devastating tornado much faster than similarly stricken Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which severely restricted property rights in order to pursue a “top-down” redevelopment plan: Last April […]
Archive | Property Rights
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 […]
Court Takes Takings Case
Among this morning’s cert grants was Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States, which asks whether temporary yet repeated flooding can constitute a compensable taking under the Fifth Amendment. I blogged about this case last week here.
A Takings Claim Even Environmentalists Could Love
By Jonathan H. Adler on March 30, 2012 12:58 am in Just Compensation Clause, Property Rights, Supreme Court
Among the cases up for consideration at the Supreme Court’s conference on Friday is Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States, which seeks review of an interesting takings case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In short, the case concerns whether the temporary flooding of property can constitute a […]
Unanimous Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Property Owners in Sackett v. EPA
The Supreme Court today issued a unanimous decision in favor of the property owners in the important case of Sackett v. EPA [HT: GMU law student Matthew Roberts]. The opinions in the case (an opinion for the court and two concurring opinions by Justices Ginsburg and Alito) are available here. Justice Alito’s concurring opinion includes […]
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 […]
Debating the Constitutionality of New York Blight Condemnations
By Ilya Somin on March 12, 2012 9:42 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
The Fordham Urban Law Journal City Square website has posted a debate between NYU Professor Roderick Hills and myself on the the New York Court of Appeals controversial decisions upholding “blight” condemnations in the Atlantic Yards and Columbia University cases. In my 2011 symposium article “Let there Be Blight,” I argued that these takings violated […]
Cato, the Kochs, and Supposed Libertarian Inconsistency
Some critics of Cato’s stance in the Cato v. Koch dispute claim that it is inconsistent for libertarians to criticize the Koch brothers’ exercise of their rights. After all, libertarians support property rights, so how they can criticize anyone’s use of their property? Such claims are misguided. They are the equivalent of arguing that if […]
Eminent Domain Reform Bill Passes the House
The Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2012 passed the House yesterday on an overwhelming voice vote. I wrote about the bill in this post. As I explained there, the PRPA is far from a panacea for eminent domain abuse. But it takes a modest step in the right direction by cutting off some types […]
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 […]
Private Drones and Private Property Rights
The recent incident in which pigeon hunters shot down a surveillance drone launched by animal rights activists has generated a great deal of commentary. Although this incident may have occurred over publicly owned land (at least according to the animal rights activists), co-blogger Ken Anderson asks what would happen if similar private drones took pictures […]
Another Chance at Federal Eminent Domain Reform
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s controversial Kelo decision, which allowed the condemnation of private property for economic development, some 44 states have passed eminent domain reform laws. Although many of those laws are likely to be ineffective, overall a good deal of progress has been made at the state level in curbing abusive […]
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 […]
California Supreme Court Upholds Law Abolishing Redevelopment Agencies
The California Supreme Court recently issued a ruling upholding the constitutionality of a law abolishing the state’s numerous redevelopment agencies: The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday against redevelopment agencies, including San Diego’s, and said they cannot remain in business by paying the state a portion of their property tax receipts…. The court was dealing with […]
IJ’s Victory in the Bone Marrow Case
I was going to write a post about the Institute for Justice’s important recent victory in the bone marrow case. However, I see that co-blogger Eugene Volokh has beaten me to the punch, and said most of what I would have wanted to say. I would add only that the sale of organs and medically […]