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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsChief Justice Roberts' greatest hits--Citizens United, Voting Rights Act--More??
His legacy is forever tainted!!
See Justice Taney and Dred Scott decision
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)are living in recently he ain't that bad. I actually think he dislikes Kavanaugh and is truly distraught over recent events in this country. And I think we can safely surmise he cares little for Orange. So there's that.
tymorial
(3,433 posts)Ginsburg along with the rest of the liberal majority voted that the takings clause from the fifth amendment permitted government to transfer land from one private owner to another if a community would benefit from the economic growth and development resulting from the transfer. Kelo vs New London Ct.
Kelo lost her home but the redeveloped never secured financing. The plans used to defend the case proved unsustainable and the proposed 1.2 million year in tax revenue was never realized. In total it cost New London 78 million to fight the case and to bulldoze the properties on the site. As of today it is still a vacant lot. The city and the connector supreme court eventually publically apologized to Suzette Kelo
Pfizer was supposed to benefit from the fort Turnbull redevelopment site. Their employees were going to recieve first shot at securing residency in the condos and apartments that were to be built. It never happened and Pfizer eventually chose to stay in groton. After the merger with Wyeth, they left new London just as their property tax agreement was set to end which would have increased their tax liability by 400%
The whole case was a disaster and many civil rights and social justice groups came out to support Kelo. Now, who would you guess wrote this...
"Allowing the government to take property solely for public purpose is bad enough, but extending the concept of public purpose to encompass any economically beneficial goal guarantees that these losses will fall disproportionately on poor communities. Those communities are not only systemically less likely to put their lands to the highest and best social use, but are also the least politically powerful"
I cant imagine him writing this today given his relationship with the president but I cannot disagree with anything Thomas wrote there.
My point is that Ginsburg, Souter, Stevens, Breyer and Kennedy have a strong track record and I support them even though their decision on this case was ass backwards.
Thankfully half of the states stepped forward and passed laws preventing this from happening again.