Maryland landowners ask Supreme Court to reverse private developer’s attempt to gain government’s eminent domain power
November 04, 2026
Washington, DC; November 4, 2026: A group of Maryland landowners are asking the U.S. Supreme Court whether private developers can use courts as a shortcut around limits the State has placed on delegating the government’s eminent domain power. The landowners ask the Court to reverse a lower court decision authorizing a utility company to enter their properties for pre-condemnation surveys before the State authorized the utility company to do so.
“The Fourth Circuit’s ruling has wrongly handed a private company a governmental power that Maryland never gave it,” said Aaron Newell, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “The courts gave the developer entry onto our clients’ land based merely on a prediction that it might eventually have the authority to be there. If that prediction is wrong, nothing can undo the violation of these owners’ rights. We urge the Supreme Court to overturn this decision.”
New Jersey-based developer PSEG Renewable Transmission LLC aims to build a 67-mile-long electric transmission line in Maryland. Under state law, a developer may exercise eminent domain only after Maryland’s Public Service Commission approves its project. Although the Commission has yet to decide whether the line is needed or where it can go, PSEG filed a lawsuit in April 2025, asking a district court to let it enter and survey properties where it might build, despite the landowners’ objections. The court granted PSEG’s request for an injunction in June 2025, allowing PSEG to enter properties and conduct surveys until the Commission rules.
Sixty affected Maryland families, farms, and businesses have filed a petition urging the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s ruling. They argue that courts can use preliminary injunctions to protect a right a party already has but cannot use them to create a new right. Only the state legislature can give a private company the power of eminent domain.
Pacific Legal Foundation and co-counsel Harris W. Eisenstein of Rosenberg Martin represent the landowners. PLF represents its clients at no cost. The case is PSEG Renewable Transmission LLC v. Arentz Family, LP, et al.
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About Pacific Legal Foundation
Pacific Legal Foundation is a national nonprofit law firm that defends Americans threatened by government overreach and abuse. Since our founding in 1973, we challenge the government when it violates individual liberty and constitutional rights. With active cases in 34 states plus Washington, D.C., PLF represents clients in state and federal courts, with 18 wins of 21 cases litigated at the U.S. Supreme Court.