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Eminent Domain

Certainly.... its written in the constitution. The 5th Amendmant allows states to take personal property from citizens in the event that the property will be used for public purposes.

In the 'City of New London' case, the 5-4 Supreme Court decision went in favor of the City b/c of their econmomic development plan to revitalize that 90 acre plot of land.
 
The difficuly here, cougar, is that the definition of "public use" has just been modified from what the past two centuries of law has found acceptable. This decision changes the practice of using eminent domain to create public use facilities (railroads, highways, reservoirs, etc.) to private business concerns that happen to benefit society by creating more tax revenue. (Even that benefit is debatable.) The problem with that judicial paradigm shift is that it gives private business direct access to the powers of government. I am a firm proponent of capitalism. I have rather less trust for government power, but it is useful in its place. When you combine the two, however, you have an extemely efficient engine for corruption.

As to the government taking land against the will of the owners, Black Hawk, Tecumseh, Pontiac and a whole lot of other people are laughing, rather bitterly, in their graves. But that's another thread.
 
you have an extemely efficient engine for corruption.
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Exaaaactly. There are many locations that are now up for grabs that are not blighted. Luckily there are states that already have laws on the books and in their own constitutions that clearly specify when the government can/can't use eminent domain. I understand that Congress is also trying to influence the procedure by withholding federal funds from states that abuse the power. We'll see what happens.
 
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