Property rights protect the little guy

December 17, 2010 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author: Timothy Sandefur

Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds has an article in today's New York Post about the Columbia University eminent domain case that the Supreme Court declined to review this week.

The fact is the powerful and connected — the Bloombergs, the Bollingers, et al — don't really need strong legal protections. Nobody's going to take their property anyway. (When's the last time you heard of a rich guy's home being condemned?) For those with juice, things seldom get as far as the courts. The courts are supposed to be there to protect the rest: The people without the connections, the ones who depend on the rule of law to keep the predators away.

That protection has never been perfect, of course, but in the area of eminent domain it's become a sick joke. The message sent is that your property belongs to you — until somebody with more clout wants it for something else, be it a "vision," or a moneymaking scheme.

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