State Abuses Eminent Domain Law

April 06, 2008 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

by Timothy Sandefur

The Springfield (MO) News-Leader has my editorial about the Tourkakis case. Excerpt:

After the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous decision in Kelo v. New London, which allowed government to use eminent domain to seize homes and businesses and give the land to private developers, citizens of Missouri might have hoped that their state courts would understand the need for a restrained interpretation of eminent domain. Unfortunately, the state's highest court chose this week to expand that power even further than the Kelo case did, and in the process, it put every home and business owner, every farmer and church member in Missouri at risk. Now, only an amendment to the state constitution can protect Missourians from the abuse of eminent domain.

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