Saturday, October 07, 2006

Private Property Rights Implementation Act of 2006

Not long ago the Fourth Circuit had that funky Charlottesville case, where the majority of the panel bought in the plaintiff's argument that the taking of her land was also a Fifth Amendment seizure. One reason for the plaintiff to make this argument, I thought, is that litigating a taking is difficult.

I've just now learned from this post that the House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make it easier for property owners to sue in federal court when government takes their property. I'm not sure whether this is a good thing, but it surely is interesting, although it may never pass the Senate. Some federal judges are probably opposed to it, not looking forward to a mess of cases claiming that the highway department exceeded its right-of-way by six inches.

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