In Long Beach, California, the city is trying to invoke eminent domain to seize a Baptist church to make way for a condo project (yes, this is a Worldnutdaily article but the facts are accurate). It's being defended by John Eastman, who I believe was one of Sandefur's law school professors. He's not a guy I would agree on all that much on, but on this one I'm firmly on his side. I very much want another eminent domain case to make its way to the Supreme Court to try and overturn Kelo. There are 8 other cases around the country where cities are trying to seize churches. The legal issues are a bit more complicated than Kelo because they involve not only the 5th amendment's takings clause but also statutes like the RLUIPA. Stay tuned for more details.
The Kelo case is farther than I could believe this country could go. It was unnacceptable to me that governing entities could take property for sports stadiums much less private developers. It was nearly as agregious an example of fascism run amock in this country as losing nearly half a battalion in a mess hall bombing because feeding all those soldiers together was good for Halliburtons bottom line. But the idea of taking a church - I geuss it makes sense, they don't get revenue from the church. When will they decide it's time to condemn colleges and charity hospitals? Revoke landgrants for state universities?
These are shining examples of our republicratic system of government selling us down the line. I have been given to understand that this hyper-evolution of eminent domain flourished under the Clinton regime. So many horrors have materialised under bush that it's easy to forget that the dems allowed this rot to flourish under the surface, here at home. The founding fathers of this "great" nation have got to be spinning in their graves, wondering what the hell happened to America.
Gee, if the developers wanted the land badly enough to get the government to take it, shouldn't they want it badly enough to, you know, offer a good price for it?
Eminent domain is clearly being grossly abused by people who want to take land rather than pay for it. Can I use eminent domain to avoid those pesky mortgage payments?
Surely this sort of thing goes directly against the free exercise clause. I can't begin to see how this could be constitutional, but then I don't really see how Kelo was either.