Eminent Domain
Eminent Domain is the power accorded to a government to take an individual’s property (private) and convert it into public use. However, the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution ensures that a government can exercise this power, only if just compensation is given to the property owners. In the case of the Kelo v City of New London, the Supreme Court elucidated that a government is entitled to take over private property and convert it to public use, thus, reminiscing the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause. In addition to that, the judges of the Supreme Court expounded that if a community benefits from the furthering of the economic development on that specific property, it automatically fulfills the ‘public use’ requirement.
In the United States, having a right over private freedom is majorly considered to be the cornerstone of every citizen’s freedoms. To ensure complete protection of this right, the Takings Clause was, therefore, enacted. Unfortunately, the 2005 Supreme Court ruling on the Kelo case justified the government’s actions of taking private property through the exercise of the Eminent Domain. Through this decision, any government can seize the property of the U.S. citizens as long as it deems it fit for economic development. This is disadvantageous to the landowners since the government is given the autonomy to decide that a certain project serves the best interests of the community, more than even the property owners.
Looking at Kelo’s case, it is evident that the government seized her 90-acre land in the name of redeveloping a pharmaceutical project. As a result of this, the government evicted several hardworking families from their homes and spent millions of taxpayers’ money on the case, yet the 90-acre land has still not be put to use to date. This case shows that landowners end up expending their resources, just to take them through the expensive legal proceedings. Moreover, the use of Eminent Domain is majorly used to victimize the poor and those from minority racial groups since this power is regularly exercised in certain subverted neighborhoods.