On November 25, 2008, the Supreme Court will consider whether to review the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Braun v. Ann Arbor Charter Township, 519 F.3d 564 (6th Cir. 2008), a decision we analyzed here. The petition expressly asks the Court to overrule Williamson County. We’ve detailed the kafkaesque nature of the Williamson County rule many times, most recently here (in a post about another pending petition which asks the Court to overrule the case). Here are the briefs in Braun:
The Court’s docket report is available here. The cert petition contains three Questions Presented:
1. Should the Court overrule Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson Cityinsofar as it requires property owners to seek compensation in statecourt to ripen a federal takings claim, where four justices of thisCourt declared in San Remo Hotel v. City and County of San Francisco that such a rule is “mistaken” due to its lack of doctrinal underpinning and preclusive effect on federal jurisdiction?
2. Is a property owner barred from bringing a procedural due process claimagainst a defective land use hearing simply because the owner alsoraised a regulatory takings claim subject to Williamson County,as the Sixth Circuit has held, or does the procedural due process claimsupply an independent basis for constitutional relief, as the Ninth andFifth Circuits have held?
3. Can a property owner raise aprocedural due process challenge to a land use permit decision based ona fee simple interest in the affected land, as the Ninth and SeventhCircuits have held, or must the owner have an “entitlement” to thedesired permit, as the Sixth Circuit held?