Sadly, the Supreme Court has refused to hear the Columbia University blight takings case. This New York state supreme court decision was a particularly egregious instance of the abuse of “blight” condemnations to take property that was not blighted in any meaningful sense and transfer it to a powerful private interest group. I wrote an […]
Archive | Post-Kelo Reform
New Survey Data on Public Attitudes Towards Kelo and Economic Development Takings
By Ilya Somin on November 23, 2010 5:53 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Political Ignorance, Polls, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that government has the power to forcibly transfer property from one private owner to another in order to promote “economic development,” was one of the most unpopular decisions in the history of the Supreme Court. Polls conducted soon after the decision was issued in 2005 found that […]
Our Amicus Brief Urging the Supreme Court to hear the Columbia University “Blight” Takings Case
By Ilya Somin on October 28, 2010 10:58 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
I recently wrote an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear the Columbia University blight takings case, on behalf of the Institute for Justice (the public interest law firm that litigated Kelo v. City of New London, among many other important property rights cases), The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and the Cato Institute. […]
Talk on Kelo and Eminent Domain at Lewis & Clark Law School
By Ilya Somin on October 10, 2010 3:23 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
For those who might be interested, I will be speaking at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon tomorrow. The topic is my work on Kelo v. City of New London and post-Kelo eminent domain reform. I will also touch briefly on post-Kelo developments in state constitutional law on public use issues, including the […]
“Blight” Condemnations in Alabama
By Ilya Somin on August 3, 2010 11:43 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Historian David Beito, chair of the Alabama Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights, has an interesting post documenting the abuse of “blight” condemnations in Montgomery, Alabama: “[E]minent domain through the back door” has become commonplace in Montgomery, the cradle of the modern civil rights movement. Under this system, Montgomery has demolished homes […]
Universities and Eminent Domain
By Ilya Somin on June 25, 2010 12:41 am in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In Kaur v. New York Urban Development Corporation, its recent decision upholding the condemnation of property for transfer to Columbia University, the New York Court of Appeals claimed that the use of eminent domain to transfer land to a private university is more defensible than its use to transfer land to commercial corporations, as in […]
New York High Court Upholds Columbia University Takings
By Ilya Somin on June 24, 2010 5:44 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In today’s decision in Kaur v. New York State Urban Development Corp.
Property Rights Five Years After Kelo
By Ilya Somin on June 23, 2010 4:23 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Today is the fifth anniversary of Kelo v. City of New London, one of the most controversial decisions in Supreme Court history. In Kelo, a narrow 5-4 majority of the Court ruled that the condemnation of private property for transfer to other private individuals for purposes of promoting “economic development” was permitted by the Fifth […]
Is the Debate Over Eminent Domain “Empty and Incoherent”?
By Ilya Somin on June 4, 2010 11:07 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In a recent post on Kaur v. Urban Development Corporation, the Columbia eminent domain case currently before New York’s state supreme court, NYU lawprof Rick Hills argues that the debate over eminent domain is largely meaningless. Kaur, like the Atlantic Yards case before it, addresses a key issue in takings law: whether the condemnation of […]
New York High Court Oral Argument in Columbia Eminent Domain Case
By Ilya Somin on June 2, 2010 2:46 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
The New York Court of Appeals (which, despite the misleading name, is New York’s state supreme court), held oral arguments yesterday in Kaur v. New York Urban Development Corporation, the case in which New York City is trying to condemn a large amount of property in the Manhattanville neighborhood in order to transfer it to […]
James Ely on Stevens, Kagan, Obama, and Property Rights
By Ilya Somin on May 16, 2010 8:25 pm in Eminent Domain, Judicial Nominations, Kagan Nomination, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights, Supreme Court
Vanderbilt lawprof James Ely – a leading expert on constitutional property rights – has an interesting column on the relevance of property rights to the current Supreme Court nomination: In seeking a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, President Obama indicated that he wanted to name someone in the Stevens mold. Among […]
Last Atlantic Yards Property Owner Agrees to Sell His Land Under Threat of Condemnation
The last property owner in the condemned Atlantic Yards area of Brooklyn, New York has agreed to sell his land in order to avoid the condemnation of his property by the city government [HT: Josh Blackman]: The last man standing in front of the Atlantic Yards bulldozer has stepped aside. Daniel Goldstein — founder of […]
Nicole Gelinas on Blight Condemnations in New York
By Ilya Somin on February 25, 2010 7:55 pm in Blight, Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
Nicole Gelinas has an interesting article on the expansive use of “blight condemnations” in New York. As she points out, New York courts have defined blight so broadly that virtually any area can be designated as such, and then condemned. This has created massive opportunities for abuse by politically connected interest groups who can use […]
Podcast of my Debate on Kelo and Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform with Saul Levmore
By Ilya Somin on February 6, 2010 7:57 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
In response to popular demand, The University of Chicago Federalist Society has posted a podcast of my recent debate on Kelo and post-Kelo eminent domain reform with former U of Chicago Law School Dean Saul Levmore. Current UC Dean Michael Schill moderated. The podcast is available here. A good time was had by all, and […]
Debate on Kelo and Post-Kelo Eminent Domain Reform at the University of Chicago Law School
By Ilya Somin on February 1, 2010 9:58 pm in Eminent Domain, Kelo, Post-Kelo Reform, Property Rights
This Thursday from 12:15 to 1:30, I will be debating former University of Chicago Law School Dean Saul Levmore on Kelo v. New London and post-Kelo eminent domain reform – the biggest political backlash generated by any Supreme Court decision in many decades. Current UC Dean Michael Schill will moderate. I am in the process […]