Eminent Domain
I’m watching Bill Frist giving a speech at the Lincoln-Reagan Dinner in Rockingham County (NH). He led off the portion of his speech about activist judges not with gay marriage, not with abortion (though he later did return to abortion), but by coming out against activist judges that allow government to “seize land and give it to private developers.”
I had no idea Frist was against eminent domain. It turns out that a number of Republicans support limiting eminent domain. In fact, the national tide is very much in favor of limiting eminent domain. In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling allowing New London, CT to take homes for a private development project (a drastic extension of eminent domain), some forty states are considering legislation to roll back or even completely ban eminent domain.
- Read 40 States Re-Examining Eminent Domain (AP)
Addendum
I just dug up this article Frist wrote for the Cincinatti Enquirer. In the article (written post-Supreme Court decision) Frist argues against the invocation of eminent domain in a Norwood Ohio development case. It’s a good read!
- Norwood eminent domain case goes national (Cincinnati Enquirer)