Bushco Endorses Land Grabs

I just got this note  from the good folks at Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn:

Many of you know that the Supreme Court will soon hear arguments on a case (City of New London vs. Kelo) that could make it illegal for states to take someone’s private property and give it to another private individual, for purposes of “economic development.”

This is exactly what Bruce Ratner is asking New York State to do in Prospect Heights. But a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Kelo would put an end to the type of abusive private-to-private property transfer sought by Forest City Ratner in Prospect Heights.

Unfortunately for the cause of justice, the Bush administration is considering submitting a “friend of the court” brief to the Supreme Court that would FAVOR the condemnation of private property for reasons other than "public use" (the only reason for eminent domain spelled out in our Constitution’s Fifth Amendment).

Please PHONE or EMAIL THE WHITE HOUSE and ask that the administration not take sides on this issue. President Bush speaks often of an “Ownership Society,” and he won re-election with the support of people who strongly believed he would defend their constitutional rights against overly intrusive government. His administration's support for the City of New London (and, by implication, for eminent domain abuse) contradicts everything he claims to stand for.

Telephone comment numbers and email addresses are as follows:

The White House
202-456-1111
president@whitehouse.gov

he Department of Justice
202-353-1555
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Again, please send a copy of any correspondence to DDDB by emailing contact@developdontdestroy.org. Your action WILL make a difference!

You may not be concerned about what happens to a bunch of homeowners in some other state, town or neighborhood.

You should be.

It can happen to you.

UPDATE: It turns out that Say Uncle was way ahead of me on this one.

Comments

[hellbent]

There is another interesting case before the SCROTUS this year. There is a blurb about it halfway through http://hellbenderpress.com/?a=210>here. At issue is whether government foot-dragging in funding toxic waste clean-up can also drag down attempts by private landowners to remediate property polluted by previous owners. Apparently starving the public remediation marketplace is not enough, and Bushco wants to stifle the private remediation marketplace as well.

It's cute how we can afford the payroll of a massive military, but we can not afford to clean up our own land. We can expend hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic ordnance over foreign nations at a cost of billions, but paying guys to put on space suits and contain or dispose of toxins leaking into our creeks and wells is unacceptable government waste.

If you are thinking of buying a brownfield for redevelopment, you'll want to watch this case to see whether you will need the EPA's cooperation and assistance before recovering clean-up costs from whoever made the mess.

Regarding the Kelo case in your post, if the government can use eminent domain to impose a real estate transaction on an unwilling person, what's to stop a corrupt officeholder from rewarding campaign financiers with land or from punishing opponents by takings?

[markm]

Why would anyone be surprised? Bush has already profited from such a land grab. When he was on the board of a ball team, they used eminent domain to grab land for a new stadium.

Of course, compared to what the Dems want to do to property rights....