Here are links to worthwhile reads, all with a takings flavor:
- Using Eminent Domain to Take Property For Universities – Lawprof Ilya Somin at Volokh comments on the recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education,” why takings for the benefit of universities are generally a bad idea even if they are legal.” Just ask the (former) property owners north of Columbia University about that one.
- From the New York Times, a story about the latest in Daniel Goldstein’s story, “For an Old Foe of Atlantic Yards, a Smaller-Scale Battle.” It details the dispute between Goldstein, the property owner at the heart of the Atlantic Yards case, and his new neighbors over an extension he is building in the back of his new home. Or, as a colleague asked, is the movie about this story going to be called “Battle For Backyard?”
- A new law review article on “Takings and Transmission.” Thanks to PropertyProf Blog for the heads-up.
- Protecting Property Rights from the Army Corps of Engineers – Some thoughts on the Arkansas Game & Fish case, set to be argued in the Supreme Court next week: “For its part, the federal government argues that because the floodwaters ultimately receded the property was never actually taken in the first place. In fact, under the government’s theory of the case, ‘temporary’ flooding can never trigger the Fifth Amendment. As an authority for this claim, the government’s brief cites the Supreme Court’s 1982 decision in Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corporation, which ‘distinguished between flooding cases involving a permanent physical occupation, on the one hand, and cases involving a more temporary invasion…on the other.’ As the Court put it, “’ taking has always been found only in the former situation.'”
- The Importance of Property Rights and a Partial History of How We Got Them – from the TexasCondemnation blog. Some interesting points, and a neat personal story.