This just in: the Supreme Court has decided Pung v. Isabella County, No. 25-95 (June 23, 2026). And the result — that “just compensation” for Tyler takings is usually measured by the surplus over the tax sale and not fair market value of the property, unless the tax sale process is unfair or skewed — isn’t the hoped-for outcome. …
Continue Reading Pung Decided – “Just” Compensation May Not Always Mean Fair Market Value: “The Fifth Amendment protects the … right to surplus proceeds from the tax sale, not compensation for the property’s fair market value.”

It hardly seems like two decades-plus have passed. After all, it was a mere 10 years ago we were lamenting “Kelo At 10: Still Stinks, And A Decade Has Not Lessened The Odor.” But yes, it was 21 years ago today … the U.S. Supreme Court, by the thinnest of margins, held in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (June 23, 2005) that there’s nothing inherently suspect about “economic development” takings to justify a higher level of judicial scrutiny than the judges-as-poodles standard of review applied in Public Use challenges to takings for every other reason…
Continue Reading Kelo Hits 21 (And Gets Worse With Age)

The majority opinion of the Texas Supreme Court in State of Texas v. JRJ Pusok Holdings, LLC, No. 24-0447 (June 12, 2026), starts off pretty good: “The right to own property is ‘fundamental, natural, inherent, inalienable, not derived from the legislature and . . . preexist[s] even constitutions.'” And it gets better from there. At issue was one of those “buyback” statutes — property taken for a public use that isn’t used for that public use within a defined time frame can be repurchased by its former owner. In this case, Texas’s (as the caption indicates).
Continue Reading Texas: Agreeing To Settle A Just Compensation Claim Can Trigger Repurchase Right If Govt Doesn’t Use Property For Stated Purpose

In Betts v Boone County, No. 25-1685 (June 15, 2026), the big question facing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit was whether qualified immunity kept next-of-kin from prevailing on a section 1983 due process claim after the county coroner kept the skull of a murder victim as a “trophy” for forty years (yikes!) after turning over the rest of the body to the family for burial. …
Continue Reading CA7: Illinois Recognizes Due Process Property In Kin’s Remains

An interesting one from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
The Modern Sportsman, LLC v. United States, No. 19-449 (June 5, 2026), is the latest in a string of decisions on the “bump stock” issue. You remember the issue: a “bump stock” is a device you can attach to a semi-automatic rifle to make it fire rapidly like a fully-automatic rifle.
Continue Reading CFC: Govt Ordering Destruction Of Bump Stocks Could Be A Physical Taking, But Not Exactly An Exaction

Worth subscribing: a newer (the archives go back to this post, late 2025) from lawprof Stephen R. Miller, named “Euclid Land.” The title should give you a hint about what the topic is, “a conversation about land use reform with law professor, urban planner, and author Stephen R. Miller.”…
Continue Reading New(ish) Substack: “Euclid Land” (Prof. Stephen Miller)

Property rights and dirt law really float your boat? Want to be colleagues with the lawyers who won landmark property rights cases like Knick, Sheetz, Pakdel, Nollan, Cedar Point, Tyler, Shear, and others? See yourself as a guardian of the “guardian of every other right?” Well, here’s a rare chance to join our firm’s Property Rights group.
Continue Reading Want To Be A Guardian Of “The Guardian Of Every Other Right”? Now’s The Time To Join PLF’s Property Rights Courtroom Lawyers