Let’s fix eminent domain

by Leslie Holloway

Property ownership is a fundamental right our nation’s founding fathers saw fit to protect. Eminent domain authority was always considered necessary to meet public demand for basic services, such as power, water and roads. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, however, protects private property rights by restricting the taking of private property for “public use” without just compensation.

In a case recently decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, Kelo v. the City of New London, some Connecticut homeowners asked the highest court in the land to defend their Constitutional rights against local government officials who condemned their homes in order to make way for a commercial waterfront development project.

The Court sided instead with government officials and developers, ruling against the homeowners. The Court then put responsibility squarely on the shoulders of state government to restrict the taking of property through eminent domain.

In its majority opinion, the Court stated, “Promoting economic development is a traditional and long accepted function of government. There is, moreover, no principled way of distinguishing economic development from the other public purposes that we have recognized.”

Dissenting from the majority, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote, “The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more.”

Missouri Governor Matt Blunt named a task force to recommend proposed changes in state law to protect property owners. Missouri Farm Bureau has worked for legislation during the past three legislative sessions to restrict the use of eminent domain, and is represented on the task force.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling stunned the nation and sent a clear signal to homeowners, business owners, farmers and other landowners to look to their state policymakers to protect property rights and stop the abuse of eminent domain by the powers that be.

(Leslie Holloway, of Jefferson City, Mo., is the director of state and local government affairs for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.)