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Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
Ty,
As I read it, you're arguing against a balancing test by positing an absolute -- that the government has the right to use emminent domain to benefit private citizens as long as the government determines there is a public benefit. What Club and I (boy, I don't type that much) are saying is that public benefit should be narrowly construed and should be something clearly available to the public at large.
Put a different way, the government might take my land and give it to you, because it would be a public benefit for you to have it to raise your pretty rosebushes on it, while in my hands the place looks like a dump with broken down cars out front and no paint for the last 10 years. Is that an appropriate use of emminent domain, if the only public benefit is the view from the street? What if the only public benefit is that you're a nice guy and I'm a pain in the ass? Should anyone, like a court, ever get to second guess the party in power on these issues?
It's all about the balance. I'd narrowly construe the power.
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If I understand your objection correctly, it goes to whether there
is a benefit, not to whether the benefit is public or private. You are not a conservative, but this would be an odd position for a conservative to take in the Connecticut case, since most conservatives are in favor of things like urban renewal. I agree that if there is no public benefit, eminent domain is inappropriate. In that case, private interests with sway are pulling government levers for their own ends. But in the Connecticut case, I think everyone accepts that the town will benefit from the development, and only thing that seems odd about the case is that it's doing this solely through private means.
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This, of course, bears no relationship to what happens in an eminent domain case. Government sets the price, and you can bear the cost of litigating or take the price. This lets the price be set low.
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OK, but not because the Constitution requires it. I'm just talking about how the government ought to set the price.
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