more on Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Nathan COCHRANE <NCOCHRANE () theage com au>
Date: June 23, 2005 8:02:25 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes


Hi Dave

The news out of the US gets weirder and weirder all the time. So much  
for the US Constitution when might makes right.

What profit fighting for democracy in Iraq when you lose it at home?

But it could be an interesting angle on the copyright debate. If the  
public benefit of piracy outweighed the private rights of  
intellectual property ownership then, according to this judgement,  
states should legalise open slather IP infringement.


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com]On Behalf
Of David Farber
Sent: Friday, 24 June 2005 6:41 AM
To: Ip ip
Subject: [IP] Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes




Begin forwarded message:

From: eekid () aol com
Date: June 23, 2005 10:55:46 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes


Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local
governments may seize people's homes and businesses ? even against
their will ? for private economic development.

It was a decision fraught with huge implications for a country with
many areas, particularly the rapidly growing urban and suburban
areas, facing countervailing pressures of development and property
ownership rights.

The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents
whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office
complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land
except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or
schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities now have wide power to bulldoze residences for
projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes in order to
generate tax revenue.

Local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a
development project will benefit the community, justices said.

"The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it
believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community,
including ? but by no means limited to ? new jobs and increased tax
revenue," Justice     John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority.

He was joined by Justice     Anthony Kennedy, David H. Souter,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer.

At issue was the scope of the Fifth Amendment, which allows
governments to take private property through eminent domain if the
land is for "public use."

Susette Kelo and several other homeowners in a working-class
neighborhood in New London, Conn., filed suit after city officials
announced plans to raze their homes for a riverfront hotel, health
club and offices.

New London officials countered that the private development plans
served a public purpose of boosting economic growth that outweighed
the homeowners' property rights, even if the area wasn't blighted.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050623/ap_on_go_su_co/
scotus_seizing_property_2



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