Louisiana Ratifies Eminent Domain Reform
On Saturday, September 30, Louisianans voted into law Constitutional Amendment 5, providing home and business owners across the state with increased protection against eminent domain abuse by prohibiting local governments from condemning private property merely to generate taxes or jobs.  Also, the amendment ensures that the State's blight laws can only be applied for the removal of a genuine threat to public health and safety caused by a particular property.

Lawmaker Cautions Against Eminent Domain in Rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina concentrated its devastation on largely poor African Americans

Note: In Louisiana the term expropriation is used in taking private property under eminent domain.

Development Without Eminent Domain
Among the greatest challenges American mayors and city councils face are how to create or revive a city's urban core.

The Polls Are In:
Private Property Rights are the Number One Issue for Americans

"Your local government will tell you there's nothing to worry about, that it would never use eminent domain, or that it's only as a "last resort." Don't believe a word of it. Your only protection is a change in the law (or good state court rulings, which is what the Institute for Justice is working on)."

Think Successful Redevelopment Requires Eminent Domain? Think Again.

Reality Check:
The Truth About Eminent Domain Abuse

How Cities Can Declare Nice Homes and Businesses Blighted

~ History of Kelvo Case ~
The Supreme Court Hears an Important Constitutional Case That Asks If Private Property Is Truly Taken For "Public Use" When It Is Given to a Private Developer

KELO V. CITY OF NEW LONDON
June 23, 2005  The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, rules that the "Takings Clause" in the U.S. Constitution permits local governments can seize residential and commerical property for private development. In a strongly worded dissent, Justice O'Connor rebukes the majority's conclusion, asserting that "the beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process," giving government a "license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more."

Case Documents