Discussion Group :
Topic highlight Kelo vs. the City of New London
Context
In the USA, as in many other countries, private property can be turned over for "public use".
In 1998 the City of New London decided that 115 homes, private property, could better be turned over to
pharmaceutical giant Pfizer which had built a plant nearby.
The City handed over its power of eminent domain—the ability to take private property for public use—to
the New London Development Corporation (NLDC), a private body, to take the entire neighborhood for
private development.
The property is being leased to the developer for 99 years at $1 per year.
On June 23, 2005, the US Supreme Court, in a closely watched 5-4 decision, ruled that
economic development, in itself, was a "public use" within the meaning of the takings clause.
Moreover, the majority, led by Justice John Paul Stevens, also refused to adopt the argument that at
a minimum there must be a reasonable certainty that the public benefits used to justify the takings will
actually be realized before government can exercise its power of eminent domain.
Promoting economic development, he wrote, is a traditional function of government. There is no principled way, he added, of distinguishing economic development from the other public purposes that the Court has recognized, even where, as here, it may benefit individual, private parties.
Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Clarence Thomas, writing separate dissents, said that nearly all real
property is now susceptible to condemnation.
In the discussion group
Members contemplate the possibly far-reaching effects this ruling could have on freedom of speech in general and
anti-cult activism in particular.
Freedomofmind.com fully supports religious
freedom and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The fact that a person’s name or group appears on our website
does not necessarily mean they are a destructive mind control cult.
They appear because we have received inquiries and have established
a file on the group.
The Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc. was established by cult expert Steve Hassan.
