Taking From The Rich To Give To The Slightly Less Rich

September 08, 2006 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Prof. Ilya Somin comments here on an eminent domain case in New York in which the owners of an exclusive golf club persuaded the state to protect them from the city's plan to take the golf club and make it "public." Excerpt:

this is a rare case where a local government tried to condemn the property of wealthy and politically powerful owners. The outcome illustrates one of the major reasons why "economic development" takings usually victimize only the poor and politically weak, a point I have emphasized in much of my own work on the subject (e.g. here), and also Justice O'Connor's and Justice Thomas' dissents in Kelo v. City of New London.

(Read more…)