One week
In one week, the Supreme Court will hear Kelo v. New London, arguably the most important property rights case of our time. With a week left, the seven families are preparing to go before the Supreme Court and plead their case. A recent account:
Fifteen houses are all that remain of Fort Trumbull, a once vibrant immigrant neighborhood on the southeastern Connecticut shore. For years, bulldozers have been leveling houses to make way for a city’s high hopes: a hotel and convention center, office space and upscale condominiums.
The homes, surrounded now by swaths of rutted grass and gravel, stand in defiance to the project. Refusing to sell or leave, seven families will go before the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 22, arguing their city has no right to take property solely in the name of economic development.
At issue is whether the government can take land from one private entity and turn it over to another private entity. To exercise Eminent Domain, the Constitution requires that the land be for public use and that the owners be given just compensation. The city will likely argue that it’s for the public good and that the projected increase in tax revenues are for public use.
