Supreme Court Ruling Endangers Our Basic Freedom

June 24, 2005

 

I can think of no other Supreme Court ruling in the history of our nation that has so recklessly dismantled one of our basic rights than the eminent domain ruling of June 23. In a 5-4 decision, the high court sided with the city of New London, CT, ruling that they had the right to condemn perfectly good houses on the waterfront to make way for a riverfront hotel, health club and offices.

 

Writing for the out-of-control majority, Justice John Paul Stevens opined, “The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including - but by no means limited to - new jobs and increased tax revenue.” Justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer voted along with Stevens to legalize the theft of private property.

 

Unbelievable!

 

What this means is developers who have been salivating over smaller homes or open-spaced farms will now be able to conspire with spendthrifts on the city council, who are salivating over more tax dollars, and take your property against your will. The Supreme Court ruling is literally a license to steal.

 

Justice Sandra Day O'Conner spoke for those left with their sanity on the court - Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. She wrote, “Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.”

 

I own a parcel of land that is slowly being surrounded by high-end housing. Houses in the development just behind me start at around $800,000. Another development going in beside me will run as high as $1.2 million. Not a month goes by that I don't get offers from developers to buy my property. I don't want to sell. I purchased this property as an oasis in an ever-developing area. Since I'm zoned agriculture I pay far less in property taxes than any one of the houses next to me. The Supreme Court has now opened up the door for greedy tax-grabbers in government to seize my property, pay me their idea of “fair market value” and run me off.

 

It's not just property owners with larger tracts of land. It's you, the single-dwelling property owner with maybe a 2,000 to 3,000-square-foot house. You may live in a desirable neighborhood. Or, you and your neighbors may live in a five-block area that a developer deems desirable only if you're not there. Once your property becomes a target, there's absolutely nothing you can do.

 

Well, there is something we can do as a citizenry under assault. The only thing that trumps the Supreme Court is a constitutional amendment. I have petitioned my representatives in Washington to immediately pass an amendment clarifying that no government entity has a right to condemn property for use of any kind by a private citizen or business. It takes a two-thirds majority of both the U.S. House and Senate. It then must be ratified by three-fourths of the states' legislatures.

 

A CNN online poll the day after the ruling showed 99 percent of the respondents were against the Supreme Court ruling. This is an issue that cuts across ideological divides.

 

I hope you'll join me in urging Congress to begin this process. Every day we delay means untold citizens will be robbed of their right to own property. The courts are out of control. It's time we let them know who's boss.