Posted
8/20/2005 05:02:00 PM
by Douglas
From the insult to injury department. Let's say the supreme court says that you have to give your private property to another private entity, all for the sake of
eminent domain. After fighting it for several years and losing, the town that won doesn't just take your land from you with a smile, but they charge you for
back rent. On your own land. That they stole from you.
The June 23 Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London gave the town the approval to seize the residents' homes and transfer them to a private party for development of an office complex. In the highly controversial decision, the justices ruled 5-4 that the economic development resulting from the eminent domain action qualified as "public use" under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
The city now says that since it won the case, the homeowners actually have been living on city property since 2000 when it first began condemnation procedures against them, so they must pay back rent – to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This is sickening. Not only are you going to lose your land, but you're going to be charged rent while you fight someone stealing it. Funny, really. I thought I woke up in America.
Obviously not.