United Liberty
Eminent Domain
Podcast: Liberty Candidate - Rob McNealy (Colorado’s 6th District)
Fri, 01/15/2010 - 10:47am | posted by United Liberty Staff
In a special podcast, Jason and Brett interview Rob McNealy, discussing his campaign, positions on issues, and his candidacy. McNealy is currently a Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Congress in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District.
This special edition podcast is the third in a series devoted to showcasing liberty candidates nationwide. McNealy talks about his liberty-focused campaign against an incumbent Republican in Colorado (Tom Tancredo’s former seat) and a pro-war Democrat.
You can download the podcast here (38 minutes/35 MB). The introduction music is “Silence is Violence” by the always lovely Aimee Allen.
You can subscribe to the RSS of JUST our podcasts here, or you can find our podcasts on iTunes here.
Let’s Cultivate OUR Own Garden
Fri, 12/18/2009 - 11:25am | posted by Brett Bittner
If you follow eminent domain cases at all, you are likely to recognize the name Suzette Kelo. She sued the City of New London, Connecticut for their misuse of the power of eminent domain, as they condemned her property and the property of her neighbors to allow Pfizer to build a research facility. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court and resulted in a gross violation of property rights nationwide, as the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, found that the positive impact of the facility in terms of jobs and tax revenues would benefit the community of New London qualified as “public use” as outlined by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Last month, four years after the decision, Pfizer pulled out of the project, leaving New London with an empty lot generating next to no tax revenue after displacing Ms. Kelo and her neighbors.
Remembering Kelo
Tue, 06/23/2009 - 10:02am | posted by Jason Pye
On June 23, 2005, the United State Supreme Court dealt a fatal blow to private property rights with the decision issued in Kelo v. New London. 
This landmark ruling allows state and local governments to use the previously redefined meaning of “public use” from the Fifth Amendment (also known as the Takings Clause) to use eminent domain to essentially steal property from one private entity and transfer it to another.
Home Rule: Back-Door Eminent Domain Abuse
Mon, 04/27/2009 - 6:35am | posted by United Liberty Guest
By: Dr. David Beito
What is happening in the cradle of the modern civil rights movement? Jimmy McCall would like to know. ‘It was more my dream house,’ he laments, ‘and the city tore it down … It reminds me of how they used to mistreat black people in the Old South.’ In 1955, Rosa Parks took on the whole system of Jim Crow by refusing to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus. Today, McCall is waging a lonely battle against the same city government for another civil right: the freedom to build a home on his own land.
Eminent domain abuse still rampant
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 3:23pm | posted by Jason Pye
In the almost five years after the Kelo decision, which effectively gutted the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, local governments are still running over the property rights of their citizens:
H/T: Club for Growth
Property rights are dead in New York
Wed, 11/25/2009 - 12:39pm | posted by Jason Pye
The New York Court of Appeals ruled against a group of home and business owners yesterday who had sued to prevent a developer from working with political leaders in New York City to take private property to build a new arena for the New Jersey Nets basketball team:
After enduring three years of delays, several lawsuits and the collapse of the real estate market, the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn took a major step forward on Tuesday when New York’s highest court ruled that the state can seize private property for the 22-acre development.
The Court of Appeals ruled 6 to 1 that the state could exercise eminent domain in claiming businesses, public property and private homes for economic development projects like Atlantic Yards. In doing so, the court backed the state’s assessment that the area in question — where some holdouts had refused to sell their property — fit the legal definition of being blighted.
The ruling also had broader implications — reaffirming New York’s use of eminent domain even as many state legislatures are seeking to curb government’s power to condemn private property.
The project’s opponents had argued that eminent domain on behalf of the private developer, Bruce C. Ratner, was improper and unconstitutional. They vowed to continue their battle, but there was no question that the cloud of uncertainty that has been hanging over Atlantic Yards for more than a year had been lifted.
Pfizer abandons site of infamous property rights case
Mon, 11/09/2009 - 7:25pm | posted by Jason Pye
One of the worst decisions by the Supreme Court, at least in recent memory, was Kelo v. New London. This decison redefined the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, allowing local governments to use eminent domain to take private property for private use or economic development.
The City of New London used eminent domain to essentially steal the land of Susette Kelo and a few of her neighbors in the Fort Trumbull area of the city to build for Pfizer to build a new complex.
The site where the homes sat has been vacant for four years, with no signs of looming development. Today, news broke that Pfizer is abandoned the city, and will now consider selling or leasing the land.
If you want some background, you can watch Ms. Kelo tell her story:
Eminent Domain Public Meeting
Sun, 04/27/2008 - 1:42am | posted by Shana Kluck
The Alabama Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is convening a public meeting to receive information on “Civil Rights Implications of Eminent Domain Policies and Practices in Alabama.” It will be held on Tuesday, April 29 at the historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 16th Street and 6th Avenue, Birmingham, Alabama.
Among those who will testify are legal experts, property owners, and concerned citizens. They will also include minority property owners in Alabaster who lost their land to make way for a Wal-Mart. The meeting will convene from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. An open session in the afternoon from 4:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. will provide an opportunity for members of the general public to provide comments.
