Balloon Juice and Don Surber are pointing to articles in Yahoo and The Washington Times (free registration required) that tell of states who are battling against the recent Supreme Court Kelo decision. The Governer of Alabama has signed a bill that prohibits the state, cities and counties from taking private property for retail, office, commercial, industrial or residential development.

Delaware also has changed its law since the high court ruling on eminent domain. Legislatures in at least eight other states are weighing proposals this year. More may be coming. And Congress is considering action.

"When legislatures start new sessions in January, I expect the majority of states to take up bills that would restrict the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes," said Larry Morandi, environmental program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The issue has spawned an unusual alliance among conservatives opposed to the principle of government seizing private property and liberals worried that poor people would be the most likely victims.

I'm glad to see that at least some politicians haven't taken leave of their senses. I honestly thought that the underage death penalty was the worst Supreme Court ruling I had ever seen, but this one really takes the cake.

Don Surber reminds us that

Governments exist to protect the rights of individuals, not to seize the land of one person to gift to a rich corporation in the name of tax revenues.

I couldn't agree more. That is a fact that some of them seem to forget as they become more and more self-serving. I have to wonder, though, what will happen when someone challenges the constitutionality of these state laws?

Posted by: Drew at 10:27 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 286 words, total size 2 kb.