We're experiencing the madness that is the ABA Annual Meeting -- this time in San Francisco -- hanging with colleagues from the State and Local Government Law Section (where we're slated to be the Chair-Elect this year), and at the Council of Appellate Lawyers. These meetings are a lot of ... meetings .. but there's also a healthy dose of CLE programming, some of it focused on things like eminent domain and land use, and other topics near and dear.
Pictured above is our friend and colleague from the Northwest, Jamila Johnson, who gave a spirited defense of the Fifth Amendment and property rights in her session on energy corridors. We were discussing the pros and cons of "quick take" statutes, and to counter the assertion that these things allow for efficient, convenient, and cost-effective government projects, Jamila responded (and we're recalling this from memory here), "the government has three awesome powers: it can kill you, put you in jail, and take your property. It should be hard to do those things. Quick take statutes take the focus away from the property owner, and shift it to how convenient things are for the government. This shouldn't be about government convenience." Well said.
Jamila Johnson (R), with Howard Roston and Lisa Agrimonti.
There was more good stuff from the panel on affordable housing from Professor Steve Eagle (George Mason), Pacific Legal Foundation's Damien Schiff, Nadia Costa, Minming Wu (Federal Transportation Agency), Nadia Costa, and Cecily Barclay.
Nadia Costa, Professor Eagle, Damien Schiff, Minming Wu, and Cecily Barclay.
The meeting continues today, with more meetings and programming. If you are in town, be sure to drop by and say hello.
