On The Front Lines
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Homeowners' Property Rights in Kelo
WASHINGTON, DC -- In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a local government may seize private property for purposes of profit-making private re-development, declaring that this constitutes a "public use" under the Constitution. In delivering the majority opinion, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens declared that while a local government could not take homeowners' property "simply to confer a private benefit on a particular private party," the New London, Conn., project involved in this case was "a carefully considered development plan." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in her dissenting opinion argued that cities should not have unlimited authority to uproot families, even if they are provided compensation, simply to accommodate wealthy developers. She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas."This ruling delivers a strong blow to homeowners' rights, especially as we continue to seek to balance the rights of American citizens against the needs of government," said John W. Whitehead, president and founder of The Rutherford Institute. "Our founding fathers believed that the principal function of government should be to protect the property rights of its citizens. They certainly didn't intend for eminent domain to be used to justify government officials laying claim to private property in order to build shopping complexes or high-rise condominiums."
In Kelo v. City of New London, seven property owners challenged plans by New London, Conn., city officials to demolish their working-class neighborhood of antiquated Victorian homes and small businesses in order to clear the way for private developers with visions of a riverfront hotel, health club and business offices. In a March 2004 ruling, the Connecticut Supreme Court declared that "valid public use" justified the city's exercise of eminent domain, based on the thousands of jobs and significant revenue that officials project would be generated by the redevelopment on a 90-acre parcel. In an effort to safeguard the private property rights of American citizens, Institute attorneys had filed a "friend of the court" brief, asking the justices to protect the rights of homeowners and declare unconstitutional a ruling by the Connecticut Supreme Court that allows a city to seize a person's property under its eminent domain power and transfer it to private developers whose projects could boost local economies. Although the Fifth Amendment allows government officials to take private property for "public use" as long as they provide property owners with just compensation, "public use" has come under increasing scrutiny as government officials broadly interpret the phrase to lay claim to private property for more productive or economically profitable use. Institute attorneys argued that there is such a thing as private property beyond the reach of government and special consideration must be given to cases where the land sought to be taken includes people's homes. Institute attorneys also pointed out that if the principle of eminent domain is allowed to continue unchecked, the right to private property will be swallowed up by an eminent domain power that can be exercised whenever a state or local government determines that someone's property could be put to more productive use. The Institute's brief cited the Kentucky Supreme Court's declaration of almost of century ago that "under this rule the property of the citizen would never be safe from invasion." A copy of the Institute's brief is available here (PDF).
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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