This morning, the Supreme Court declined to review a case we’ve been following, Like v. Transcontiental Gas Pipe Line Co., No. 18-1206.
This is the one in which landowners are challenging the district court’s issuance of an injunction in a Natural Gas Act taking which allow a private condemnor to obtain immediate possession of the land being condemned even though the Natural Gas Act does not delegate to pipeline condemnors the quick-take power. We filed this amici brief in support of the property owner.
The game is still afoot for several reasons, even though this is the second case presenting the same issue that the Court declined to review. First, the issue isn’t going away; there is at least one more case in the petition pipeline, involving the Mountain Valley pipeline. Second, other courts get it, why doesn’t the Supreme Court? And finally, there’s Knick. That case hinges on the vibe that condemnors don’t need to provide compensation at the time of the taking — an issue also in play in these cases — and by the time the Mountain Valley petition is filed in July, the Court will very likely have decided Knick.
So don’t change the channel just yet.