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Article: EDITORIAL: Eminent domain: Legislature restores the balance in favor of property owners' rights.(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Daily Press (Newport News, VA)
- Article date:
- April 1, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Daily Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Apr. 1--The laws defining the government's power of eminent domain and those protecting the rights of property owners form a constant balancing act, a teeter-totter in which even gradual change can eventually throw the system out of whack.
And that's what happened over some decades, as government creep set in and public officials found they could provide less and less justification for the taking of private property for loosely defined "public use."
Then, it all came crashing down with the Supreme Court's Kelo decision. The court ruled in 2005 that the government could take private property (and valuable, well-maintained waterfront property at that) for ...