From the Email InBox: Eminent Domain Still a Threat

Friends:

Consider this fact: in just the past year, more than 5,700 properties nationwide have been threatened by or taken with eminent domain for private development - a figure that compares with more than 10,000 examples over a five-year period preceding the Kelo argument, according to one of five reports released today by the Institute for Justice (which argued the Kelo case before the U.S. Supreme Court) and the Castle Coalition. Coupled with this increase in eminent domain abuse, however, has been a virtually unprecedented grassroots and legislative response to the most universally despised Supreme Court ruling in recent memory.

Friday, June 23, is the one-year anniversary of the now-infamous U.S. Supreme Court decision that stripped Americans of any meaningful federal constitutional protection for their private property. To mark that date, the Institute for Justice and the Castle Coalition issued four separate reports yesterday that

1) document the growing problem of eminent domain for private development,
2) chronicle the legislative response to Kelo,
3) demonstrate failed redevelopments that followed government’s use of force to acquire property, and
4) expose the common myths put forward by developers and cities defending eminent domain for private use.

In another document also released yesterday, the Castle Coalition offers property owners who face eminent domain abuse an “Eminent Domain Survival Guide.”

All are available at http://www.castlecoalition.org/kelo/index.html - check them out today!

Christina Walsh
Assistant Castle Coalition Coordinator
Institute for Justice
901 N. Glebe Road, Suite 900
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 682-9320
www.ij.org
www.castlecoalition.org