The Kelo Revolt

July 31, 2006 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

The Wall Street Journal comments on the Ohio Supreme Court's repudiation of private takings of land.

In her opinion for a unanimous court this week, Ohio Supreme Justice Maureen O'Connor wrote, "For the individual property owner, the appropriation is not simply the seizure of a house. It is the taking of a home — the place where ancestors toiled, where families were raised, where memories were made."

Wednesday's ruling means Carl and Joy Gamble and Joe Horney can stay in their homes, and Matthew and Sanae Ichikawa Burton won't have to move their business. Susette Kelo, the loser in last year's U.S. Supreme Court case, wasn't so lucky. But at least her pink cottage on the New London, Connecticut, waterfront won't be bulldozed. In an agreement reached last month with the city, her house will be relocated to make way for condos.

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