Holy Crap
George Bush (yes, that one) issued an executive order that is anti-eminent domain:
It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.
It has a list of exclusions but it’s a start.
Wow. First thing he’s done right in years. Via the geek and carnaby.
Update: It has a clause that kind of makes it useless. One of the Volokh’s has the skinny. Via Jon.
June 24th, 2006 at 9:05 am
Sorry to rain on the parade, but there is a post over at Volokh that the Executive Order has a clause in it that makes it pretty-much worthless. It has a loophole…. š
June 24th, 2006 at 11:07 am
argh!
June 24th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Ilya Somin is not “one of the Volokhs,” just one of the million “who the f*&^ is that” posters who are the reason I don’t generally read Volokh’s site anymore. Maybe he/she/it is onto something, I don’t know. But I get fed up with unheard-of so-and-sos getting quoted simply because their posts get to use the domain “volokh.com.”
June 24th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
I’ve been using ‘one of the volokhs, they all look alike’ or some variation for a while from back when it first became a group blog.
June 24th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
Who cares who he is? His analysis is correct. I came to the exact same conclusion about Bush’s executive order myself.
June 25th, 2006 at 9:56 am
The order is more symbolic than functional. I am glad to see it. It may provide someone in Congress the cover to write a bill that will address the eminent domain of private property to be transferred to private owners.
The real story is how gutless the legislature in Nashville was and how even more gutless and compromised our local
rulersleaders are.June 25th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Ok, let’s assume that Bush (or his advisors) crafted an order with a loophole in it. Now, who wants to be the first federal employee to stand up and say “Mr. President, your order is worthless and I am going to do what I want to in this matter”?
June 25th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
SU and Beerslurpy, it matters because Eugene Volokh, aside from being a far more credible legal scholar than just about anyone else who posts on that blog, is also far more circumspect. He may or may not agree with Somin’s take on the executive order, but the issue is nowhere near as cut and dried as Somin makes it out to be, and it’s highly unlikely Volokh would have potrayed it as such. So no, they don’t all look alike.
June 25th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Agree with Xrlg. I’d gladly read Volokh.com if if it were just Eugene and maybe his family, but there are too damned many people writing there. It’s too much volume and it dilutes the voice, authority, and focus of the site. It’s a prime example of how a group blog can go wrong.
June 26th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
OK, X & Les – So, does it have a loop hole or not?
June 26th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
There is no simple answer. My guess is no, but since it’s not written more tightly, I can’t be sure. The bigger, inevitable “loophole” lies with the fact that it only binds the federal government, which rarely condemns land anyway.