September 25, 2009
Associate Press
Eminent domain land sits undeveloped
Four years after the Kelo vs New London decision, Justice Souter’s vote to allow the city to take private property for development has been deemed a ‘hollow victory’. The area is a blight.
New London officials decided they needed Kelo’s land and the surrounding 90 acres for a multimillion-dollar private development that included residential, hotel conference, research and development space and a new state park that would compliment a new $350 million Pfizer pharmaceutical research facility.
Kelo and six other homeowners fought for years, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2005, justices voted 5-4 against them, giving cities across the country the right to use eminent domain to take property for private development.
The decision was sharply criticized and created grassroots backlash. Forty states quickly passed new, protective rules and regulations, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some protesters even tried to turn the tables on now-retired Justice David Souter, trying unsuccessfully in 2006 to take his New Hampshire home by eminent domain to build an inn.
Souter is now retired and has returned to NH to write ‘civics curriculum’ for our schools.
Watch out.