We all remember Susette Kelo’s struggle to save her “little pink house” from the New London Development Authority’s efforts to take it by eminent domain for economic development. She fought the authority all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she lost by a 5-4 decision. Justice John Paul Stevens, in his opinion for the majority, deferred to the legislature to determine what public needs justified the use of eminent domain. He added, however, that “nothing in our opinion precludes any State from placing further restrictions on its exercise of the takings power.”
Justice Clarence Thomas’ Kelo dissent would have limited the power to takings for actual use by the public. The result in the case produced a substantial backlash against the eminent domain power, with proposals in many state legislatures, pursuant to Justice Stevens’s invitation, to prohibit takings other than for strictly public uses. Although those proposals have not been particularly successful, there is still substantial popular sentiment opposing the use of eminent domain.
