State courts struggle to apply Penn Central test to regulatory takings

February 24, 2025

If the government severely restricts your use of your property, should you receive "just compensation," as promised in the Fifth Amendment's Takings Clause? That's the question presented in regulatory takings cases, in which the property owner still owns the property but cannot make full use of it. In Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes's well-worn words ...

Too Far: Imagining the Future of Regulatory Takings

November 11, 2024

Pacific Legal Foundation and George Mason University’s Journal of Law, Economics & Policy seek papers for a symposium titled “Too Far: Imagining the Future of Regulatory Takings,” to be held at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School in October 2024.

What is the 5th Amendment’s Takings Clause?

March 02, 2021

How does the 5th Amendment impact American's everyday lives? In 2013, the government forced Rose Knick to grant the public access to her farmland after it was rumored to be the location of a former burial site. Rose was offered no compensation in exchange for this requirement to allow would-be grave seekers to trespass on her private farm—a ...

How the Takings Clause protects property rights

September 05, 2019

Most people don't think about the Takings Clause in their everyday life. But as a constitutional attorney I find that I think about it more than most. One evening several years ago, someone smashed the passenger window of my unattended, worn-down car and stole several items. I was frustrated to find a damp car seat covered with broken glass. But wh ...