23-06-2005 20:01									#1
	US Supreme Court has gone mad! Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

quote: WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses — even against their will — for private economic development.

The rest of the article here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,160479,00.html

I know it was a close vote, 5-4 but still. What is wrong with SCOTUS? Have they gone mad?

Suffice to say, I don't agree with this decision at all. Government, local or not, should not have that much power to displace people from their homes. It's not right.

	23-06-2005 20:13									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

I cannot believe that for once I agree with Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas (who were joined by O'Connor in dissent).

	23-06-2005 20:17									#3
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: US Supreme Court has gone mad!

What else is new? Though this case seems to hinge on how broadly one wishes to interpret what a public good is. I had hoped that the Court would close the door on a rather obvious avenue for abuse of power.

	23-06-2005 20:24									#4
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Stuie I cannot believe that for once I agree with Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas (who were joined by O'Connor in dissent).

Ditto.

I was hopping the lower court rulings against this action were upheld.

	23-06-2005 20:27									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

I don't know whether to be shocked or heartened by this decision. It could help clean up many city areas. On the other hand, this seems like an area ripe for pretty awful abuse. At a minimum, it could encourage private companies to go to the government first to try to get their way rather than going directly to the owners. That doesn't strike me as a good state of affairs.

	23-06-2005 20:37									#6
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

In a lot of cities, owners and other affected parties would have some potential for forcing the development approval to the voters as a ballot measure.

It should make property owners a lot more interested in planning commission and city/county government.

Owners also still have the threat of litigation over what is fair value.

	23-06-2005 21:41									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Ugh. Eminent domain meets privatization. Eeew.

	23-06-2005 21:48									#8
	Tired of ads?

Are the owners correctly indemnized?

	23-06-2005 21:54									#9
	Re: US Supreme Court has gone mad! Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

quote: WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses — even against their will — for private economic development.

Just like in Simcity

	23-06-2005 21:56									#10
	Increase Your PM Length

The city of San Diego has been big users of eminent domain to sieze property which would then be used for private development. My favorate coffee shop/hooka bar (where we went on a poly meet a few years back) got closed down because the city council was using eminent domain to take the land then give it to a developer who used it to build a new hotel downtown. Like we need yet another hotel in this city.

	23-06-2005 22:00									#11
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Agree this is rediculus, only in some kind of utopian society would this power not be abused. Public Infastructure is the only legit reason for Eminent Domain (and with proper city planing it shouldn't even happen that often). They are as usualy whacked out of 5/9ths of their heads.

	23-06-2005 22:08									#12
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Interesting majority blurb:

quote: Writing for the court, Justice John Paul Stevens (search) said local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community. States are within their rights to pass additional laws restricting condemnations if residents are overly burdened, he said.

Interestingly the majority is using the argument that they are trying to avoid judicial activism and the states are where to go for relief.

	23-06-2005 22:09									#13
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Bah, such bullshit...

	23-06-2005 23:03									#14
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

You know, it's interesting. On another board, people didn't realize that the government, even before this opinion, could have taken anyone's land and ran a public business on it. I wonder if a lot of people don't realize what the government's power was before this decision (as I don't know if it'll really be used that much more often... the potentially displaced are voters after all).

	23-06-2005 23:07									#15
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

vote for Rider for San Diego mayor in the coming special election.

vote libertarian, the only party who protects you from the government's abuses.

	23-06-2005 23:11									#16
	Inflate your Upload Space

sorry didn't see your thread on it..
ill post ming to close mine



O'Connor argued that cities should not have unlimited authority to uproot families, even if they are provided compensation, simply to accommodate wealthy developers.

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random," she wrote. "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

Last edited by boann on 23-06-2005 at 23:18

	23-06-2005 23:25									#17
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia vote for Rider for San Diego mayor in the coming special election. vote libertarian, the only party who protects you from the government's abuses.

I like Donna Frye; I know she's a surfer chick who runs a surf shop (how San Diegan?) but she really impressed me during the debates last year. Donna Frye is a lady who knows a lot about this city, who has a good vision about where this city should go, and who isn't corrupted the way the Republican establishment is.

	23-06-2005 23:28									#18
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

vote Rider for San Diego mayor!

	23-06-2005 23:29									#19
	Remove this text

Jesus H. Christ.

I bet Wal-Mart is having a celebration right about now.

	23-06-2005 23:29									#20
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

You mean that 25 years ago when they took my grandmothers house for a shopping center, it was illegal?

The sad part was that the house stood there for another 20 years and was finally burned down by squatters.

It's now a minor league baseball stadium.

ACK!

	24-06-2005 00:01									#21
	Suffering from ads?

Well, people better get more involved in their local government and follow local planning boards and such if they don;t want to get bulldozed out of house and home.

	24-06-2005 00:09									#22
	Remove this text

Planning boards.... "Beware of the Leopard"

	24-06-2005 00:09									#23
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

This is ****ing bullsh!t.

	24-06-2005 00:14									#24
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Are the owners correctly indemnized?

Yes.

	24-06-2005 00:15									#25
	Suffering from ads?

The right of property for private citizens doesn't mean **** when it comes to corporate interests.

That is nothing new, but it doesn't lessen the outrage of this ruling.

	24-06-2005 00:27									#26
	Get a bigger avatar today!

The sad fact is politically connected developers will now be able to sieze land they only had wet dreams about before.

	24-06-2005 00:28									#27
	Tired of ads?

Unbe fuggin believable.

I don't think I've ever been more disgusted in our judical process.

So begins the end of society once the observance of private property rights is so cavalierly dismissed.

	24-06-2005 00:34									#28
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

How local are these "local governments" from the original post?

Are we talking, state, county, city, city block -- which have the right to seize property now?

	24-06-2005 00:37									#29
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Municipal government (ie, the City), so the most local brand.

Interestingly enough, its the level of government the media never really covers, the one a very small num,ber of people ever participate in nationally, and yet, as this case shows, probably the one that affects the average person most.

	24-06-2005 00:39									#30
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by DanS quote: Are the owners correctly indemnized? Yes.

Define "correctly". I somehow doubt it will be what the owners would have sold for before this ruling (assuming they would have sold at all.)