Cato Analyst Radley Balko has an interesting summation on the implications of the Kelo case. Basically our rights are being eroded before our very eyes, but the public is more focused on stupid comments made by both sides (a la Durbin and Rove). This is a classic magician’s trick – direct people’s attention elsewhere while you slip the rabbit in the hat.

Joe Henchman wrote a great OpEd on the Kelo and Raich decisions and how they have fundamentally changed American Jurisprudence.

Update: The GA Senate has just created a committee to study the Kelo decision and recommend laws to protect property owners.

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
June 23, 2005

For more information contact:
Amanda D. Seals

Senate Committee Appointed to Study Supreme Court Ruling and Eminent Domain

ATLANTA * Today, the Senate Committee on Assignments created an interim study committee to address the recent Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v City of New London regarding economic development and eminent domain.

“Yesterday’s ruling by the Supreme Court undermines the rights of private property owners across the nation. With such a broad interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, America’s highest court has opened the door for the destruction of our neighborhoods and has set a horrifying precedent. Who defines what is for “public good” now that the Fifth Amendment has been so blatantly abused?” Senate President Pro Tempore Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) said. “The Court has given us no choice but to examine the definitions of eminent domain and economic development. We will use whatever wiggle room we have left to protect the rights of private property owners.”

During the 2005 Legislative Session, the State Senate passed Senate Bill 86, authored by Senator Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick), which protects private property rights from abuses of eminent domain. The purpose is to prevent the exercise of eminent domain for transfers of condemned property to private developers, corporations, or other private entities to increase tax revenues or for economic development. In light of the Supreme Court decision, the Committee on Assignments felt the need to study SB 86 further to determine what state powers remain to protect the rights of private property owners.

Appointees to the committee include Senator Chapman; Senator Bill Heath (R-Bremen); Senator Johnson; Senator Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta); Senator David Shafer (R-Duluth); Senator Dan Weber (R-Dunwoody); and Senate Majority Leader Tommie Williams (R-Lyons). Senator Chapman will chair the committee.

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Amanda D. Seals
Chief of Staff
Office of the Senate President Pro Tempore
321 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
404.656.0032
aseals@legis.state.ga.us