A Good Way to Seize Property?

OK, everyone is weighing in on the story about the Supreme Court ruling that allows local officials to seize personal property for private economic development that you can read about here.

Please allow me to offer a glimmer of hope in all of this.

First, I think it stinks that the New London, CT residents are going to lose their homes and/or businesses. However, I don't believe that the Supremes were ruling on the merits of their case and the legality of "eminent domain". I think they were ruling on who should exercise the authority, local government or the Feds. If they were ruling on "eminent domain" and found it illegal (which they should do), then that would ensue a whole raft of litigation, and they weren't going to let that happen.

The one paragraph in the story that stands out for me is this one:

Local officials, not federal judges, know best in deciding whether a development project will benefit the community, justices said.

That's the good news in all of this as far as I'm concerned (and I'll admit you have to really dig for good news in this story). If someone is going to make a decision about taking over your property, wouldn't you want it to be someone on the local level instead of the feds?

The key to me is who voted the way they did. I think that's what Stevens, Kennedy and the Clinton bunch were going for. I admire what Sandra Day O'Connor said, but though I believe she has stood tall in recent years, I wonder if she was being a bit disingenuous on this one. I think it further proves my theory that the "Stop-The-Gore-Bush-Recount" bunch voted against this, because they wanted more federal control and were in favor of using a ruling in a case like this as justification (again, ironic that judges who typically side with the "party of states rights" would come down this way).

Here's another key paragraph in this story:

The lower courts had been divided on the issue, with many allowing a taking only if it eliminates blight.

Again, I think "eminent domain" stinks, but it wasn't going to go away as a result of this case. As far as I'm concerned, you have a better chance of fighting this out if you're doing so on the local level and not going up against "Uncle Sam" and the full weight and force of the U.S. government.

Update: Please check out this site's 6/26 entry, which adds more information to what I said above.