Yesterday, our professor talked about condemnation or eminent domain. Most of us in the class disagreed with the court’s ruling in Kelo v. City of New London, which expanded the government’s use of eminent domain. Our professor had fun with that case. He showed us pictures of the area, pictures of the houses that didn’t want to move, and even audio recordings from the lawyer for the City.
This stuff is practical. What happens if the government wants to take away a church to build a mall? A mall means more taxes. Here is a part of the transcript from the arguments. Scalia was one of the four dissenting justices.
JUSTICE SCALIA: … You can take from A to give to B if B pays more taxes?
MR. HORTON: If it’s a significant amount. Obviously, there is a cost
JUSTICE SCALIA: I’ll accept that. You can take from A and give to B if B pays significantly more taxes.
MR. HORTON: With that -
JUSTICE SCALIA: You accept that as a proposition?
MR. HORTON: I do, Your Honor. (p.30, 31 of PDF transcript)
