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Public Use

Penn Station

Property Rights

New York's Ultra-Broad Definition of "Blight" Continues to Enable Eminent Domain Abuse

In this case, it enables the state to declare the area around Penn Station in New York City "blighted" and thereby authorize the use of eminent domain to take property for transfer to private interests.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 12.30.2022 12:18 AM

Precedent

Abortion

Reversing Roe v. Wade Wouldn't be the First Time the Supreme Court Gutted Precedents that Protect Individual Rights—Far From it

That fact doesn't necessarily justify overruling Roe. Depending on how it's viewed, the history of such reversals may even counsel against further such moves.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.6.2022 12:44 AM

Screen Shot 2021-12-08 at 1.45.39 PM

Privatization

New York City's Bryant Park Was a Hot Mess. Then It Was Privatized.

When government does things, most everything costs more and is lower quality.

John Stossel | 12.8.2021 2:05 PM

SupremeCourt3

Supreme Court

Two More Worthy Additions to the "Anticanon" of Constitutional Law—Berman v. Parker and Euclid v. Ambler Realty

Second in a series of posts on historically awful Supreme Court decisions that deserve more opprobrium than they get.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 9.21.2021 12:54 PM

Constitution

Constitution

Terrible Supreme Court Decisions that Should be Added to the "Anticanon" of Constitutional Law—Part I

Constitution Day is a good time to consider the issue of whether we have been overly accepting of some horrendous Supreme Court precedents. The Chinese Exclusion Case of 1889 is a great example.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 9.17.2021 5:48 PM

Fifth Amendment

Public Use

Kelo, Originalism, and Public Use

A response to Jonathan Adler's attempt at an originalist defense of Kelo v. City of New London.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 7.5.2021 5:36 PM

Kelo House—Frontal view—same as cover of LPH

Property Rights

My Washington Times Article on the Need to Limit Government Power to Take Private Property

The article is Part I of a two-part series.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 6.22.2021 5:11 PM

Manhattan Beach

Property Rights

Lessons of an Effort to Compensate Victims of an Unjust Use of Eminent Domain a Century after it Happened

Los Angeles County, California, plans to return land unjustly seized from a black family in 1924.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 4.22.2021 5:12 PM

Foxconn

Eminent Domain

Foxconn Debacle is Yet Another Example of the Dangers of Using Eminent Domain to Promote Economic Development

As in many previous cases, government officials promised huge economic gains from seizing property for transfer to private interests - but failed to deliver.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 12.10.2020 12:26 PM

Pipeline

Takings

New York's Highest Court Upholds Taking of Private Property for Pipeline that Might Never Get Built

The 4-2 ruling is reminiscent of the federal Supreme Court's dubious decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which also upheld a condemnation for a project that turned out to be a dud.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 6.27.2020 10:46 PM

zumaamericastwentyseven822595

Privatization

All Statues Should Be Private

We should celebrate our fandom on our own dime, and on our own property.

J.D. Tuccille | 6.24.2020 11:00 AM

Kelo House—Frontal view—same as cover of LPH

Volokh Conspiracy

The 15th Anniversary of Kelo v. City of New London

Today is the anniversary of one of the most controversial - and most unpopular - property rights decisions in the history of the Supreme Court.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 6.23.2020 10:30 AM

Israel Supreme COurt

Public Use

Israeli Supreme Court Strikes Down Law Authorizing Expropriation of Palestinian Private Property for Use by Israeli Settlers—and Cites my Work on Eminent Domain in the US in the Process

The decision distinguishes US Supreme Court cases allowing the government to transfer property from one private party to another for almost any "public purpose."

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 6.10.2020 8:05 PM

SanctuaryCity2

Volokh Conspiracy

Videos of Panels on Sanctuary Cities and Constitutional Property Rights

I took part in panels on these topics at the recent Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 11.16.2019 9:58 PM

Fairgrounds

Guns

Can California Ban Gun Shows From Public Fairgrounds?

A district judge says no, but don't expect the state’s gun-grabbing politicians to give up.

Declan McCullagh | 6.19.2019 2:45 PM

krtphotoslive841549

Volokh Conspiracy

Justice Stevens Admits Error in the Kelo Case—but Also Doubles Down on the Bottom Line

In his recent memoir, he admits he seriously misinterpreted precedent in one of his most controversial decisions, but maintains he still got the result right.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 6.8.2019 2:55 PM

Kelo House—Frontal view—same as cover of LPH

Volokh Conspiracy

Will Connecticut Finally Enact Meaningful Eminent Domain Reform?

Fourteen years after the notorious Kelo case, the state where the case originated still has one of the nation's weakest eminent domain reform laws. A bill currently before the state legislature could change that.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 4.23.2019 11:34 PM

Property Rights

New Jersey Court Strikes Down Use of Eminent Domain to Take Property to "Bank" it for Possible Future Use

The court concluded that property may only be condemned for projects that will proceed in "the reasonably foreseeable future."

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 2.16.2019 12:51 PM

Property Rights

GM Will Shut Down Factory Built on Land Seized in Controversial 1981 Poletown Taking

The factory stands on land seized in a taking that forcibly displaced over 4000 people, and attracted widespread widespread opposition. The lessons and legacy of the Poletown case remain relevant today.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 11.27.2018 3:04 PM

Property Rights

Houses Passes Private Property Rights Protection Act—But Celebration is Premature

The eminent domain reform bill is the same legislation that has passed the House three previous times since 2005. Each time, it died in the Senate without ever coming to a vote.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 7.26.2018 4:32 PM

Large image on homepages

Property Rights

Give Susette Kelo Her Land Back

Jeff Benedict, author of "Little Pink House," proposes that the City of New London return the land it condemned in the takings that led to the notorious Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 5.25.2018 3:15 PM

Kelo House—Frontal view—same as cover of LPH

Kelo

"Little Pink House" Brings the Kelo Case to the Big Screen

An impressive new movie dramatizes the story behind the famous Supreme Court case about whether it is permissible for the government to condemn homes in order to promote private "economic development."

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 4.18.2018 10:15 AM

Large image on homepages

Property Rights

Court Rules That Seattle Law Banning Landlords From Screening 'Qualified' Tenants Is a Taking

The state court ruling also concluded the taking violates the state constitution because it is for a forbidden "private use," rather than a public one.

Ilya Somin |The Volokh Conspiracy | 3.29.2018 7:20 PM

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