Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
7-16-2016
SSRN Discipline
Legal Scholarship Network; Corporate Governance Network; Law & Society eJournals; Law & Society: Private Law eJournals; Law & Society: Public Law eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence & Legal Philosophy eJournals; Management Research Network
Abstract
The exercise of eminent domain in the United States has victimized politically disadvantaged groups like minorities and the poor the most As Professor Ilya Somin aptly noted in his recent book The Grasping Hand wealthy and politically connected property owners rarely suffer from economic development takings because politicians and developers are usually savvy enough to avoid targeting them Whether it is government taking private property for highways roads or schools the common thread that weaves through all of these examples from the beginning of the country until now is that political actors have always decided whose property was to be taken Since the beginning of time the least powerful groups have always had the least political influence And people with the least political power are the people who pay the price of eminent domain
Recommended Citation
Carol N. Brown,
Justice Thomas's Kelo Dissent: The Perilous and Political Nature of Public Purpose,
(2016).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_working_papers/387