Worth reading: a new (student-authored) piece, Michaela R. Hill, Not Just a Castle in the Sky: A Legal Remedy for Race-Based Takings in Virginia, 67 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1497 (2026).
Here’s the summary:
This Note argues that Virginia must adopt this three-pronged approach to both address its history of taking minority residential property to expand its higher education institutions and recognize the sanctity of the home by making it more difficult to take under the elimination of blight justification. Part I will address federal and state statutes and case law surrounding physical takings and the eminent domain power. Part I will also discuss Virginia’s history of racial discrimination in housing, the Shoe Lane Community in Newport News, and CNU’s expansion into the neighborhood for the elimination of blight. Part II will present the first prong of this Note’s three-pronged approach to correcting Virginia’s abuse of its eminent domain power to take residential properties: adopting stricter statutory blight standards. Part III will present the second prong: a new formula for calculating increased just compensation. Part IV will outline the third prong: a model for owner or descendant return. Lastly, Part V will address counterarguments and explain why the three-pronged approach is Virginia’s best option to both prevent and rectify unjust takings of minority residential communities in the name of eliminating blight.