Five Supreme Court justices ruled that the seizure of private property from several residents of New London, Connecticut to make way for a new site owned by pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer met the test of “public use” for eminent domain. A decade after New London took homes away from its citizens to sell the land to a private corporation, Pfizer has decided it doesn’t want the facility after all,
And will the city or the Supreme Court Justices apologize and return the land to its proper owners? I doubt it. With that decision:
Essentially, the Supreme Court endorsed the idea that using eminent domain to transfer property from one private entity to another was entirely legitimate as long as the government in question liked one owner over another.
And we see just how effective the government is at determining who should and who should not get to keep the property they own, don't we? Because now:
Instead of having homeowners on that property, paying taxes and providing stability, the city now has an empty lot and a ton of political baggage.Pin It
