In an earlier post, we covered the highlights of 2025.

There are quite a lot to choose from, but here’s our curated list of the year’s lowlights. As in our highlight list, we’re affirmatively omitting cases in which we had a hand.

Here we go:

Cert Denial of the Year: GHP …

Remember back when we reported on our 100th Anniversary visit to the property in Pittston, Pennsylvania at the center of the seminal regulatory takings case Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393 (1922)?

What we didn’t note was that the visit motivated us to seek approval for the placement of a roadside marker…

• Vicki Been, Judge Edward Weinfeld Professor of Law and Co-Director, Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy, NYU School of Law
• James Burling, Vice President of Legal Affairs, Pacific Legal Foundation
• David L. Callies, Benjamin A. Kudo Professor of Law, Emeritus, Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii
• James W. Ely, Jr., Milton R. Underwood Professor of Law, Emeritus, Professor of History, Emeritus, Vanderbilt University
• Lee Anne Fennell, Max Pam Professor of Law, University of Chicago Law School
• M. Nolan Gray, Senior Director of Legislation & Research, California YIMBY

In addition to the Friday speaking panels, on Thursday, October 23, the William and Mary Law School Real Estate Law Society (a student organization) is presenting a “re-argument” of the Supreme Court arguments in Kelo v. New London, in recognition of that case’s twentieth anniversary. Arguing for Susette Kelo will be her lawyer in the real case, the Institute for Justice. The Justices will be property law professors and eminent domain practitioners. 

Will the Moot Supreme Court reach a different outcome with the benefit of two decades of experience and hindsight? This event is open to the public, so please join us and find out!