Guardian of the little guy

OpinionJournal reported The Supreme Court's "liberal" wing has a reputation in some circles as a guardian of the little guy and a protector of civil liberties. That deserves reconsideration in light of yesterday's decision in Kelo v. City of New London. The Court's four liberals (Justices Stevens, Breyer, Souter and Ginsburg) combined with the protean Anthony Kennedy to rule that local governments have more or less unlimited authority to seize homes and businesses. No one disputes that this power of "eminent domain" makes sense in limited circumstances; the Constitution's Fifth Amendment explicitly provides for it. But the plain reading of that Amendment's "takings clause" also appears to require that eminent domain be invoked only when land is required for genuine "public use" such as roads. It further requires that the government pay owners "just compensation" in such cases. The founding fathers added this clause to the Fifth Amendment--which also guarantees "due process" and protects against double jeopardy and self-incrimination--because they understood that there could be no meaningful liberty in a country where the fruits of one's labor are subject to arbitrary government seizure. That protection was immensely diminished by yesterday's 5-4 decision, which effectively erased the requirement that eminent domain be invoked for "public use." The Court said that the city of New London, Connecticut, was justified in evicting a group of plaintiffs led by homeowner Susette Kelo from their properties to make way for private development including a hotel and a Pfizer Corp. office. (Yes, the pharmaceutical Pfizer.) The properties to be seized and destroyed include Victorian homes and small businesses that have been in families for generations.

Steve Bainbridge blogged Who's for the little guy? OpinionJournal.com says the answer might surprise you

Michelle Malkin blogged The (right side of the) blogosphere's response to yesterday's SCOTUS ruling on Kelo v. New London has been stunning. And heartening. Eminent domain isn't usually the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks "blogswarm." But the fierce reaction to the decision shows that core economic liberty issues can still unite disparate factions of the right (South Park cons, neocons, Schiavo-cons, whatever-cons) who have been fretting about a conservative crack-up. My wonk-ish hope is that more attention will be paid to bogus community redevelopment/urban blight eradication/tax increment-financing schemes masquerading as "public use" projects. In the New London case, the private corporate beneficiary was Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant. In Seattle, it was Nordstrom (reg reqd). Across the country, it's money-losing multiplexes and luxury stadium deals. In all cases, the losers are taxpayers, homeowners, and small businesses. N.Z. Bear has created a Kelo topic page to track blog posts related to the ruling. The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the Supreme Court's reverse Robin Hoods. George Will has an eloquent column today decrying the ruling. His credibility is undermined by his silence on government land grabs for his beloved baseball stadiums. But Will's credibility is not nearly as eroded as that of New York Times liberals, who either have nothing to say about the case or who support the decision to strip "a few small property owners" of their dreams--an outcome they might undoubtedly decry if not for their company's own vested interested in protecting such rights-trampling boondoggles.

Hopefully this will be very useful when the Dems attack conservative nominees to the USSC; Conservatives should be able to point to Kelo as an example of what we are trying prevent.