In Brinkmann v. Town of Southold, 96 F.4th 209 (2d Cir. 2024), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit addressed whether compensated takings for public use may be challenged as the product of bad-faith or pretextual motives under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The question was arguably left open by the Supreme Court in its landmark Takings Clause decision in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) and by the Second Circuit in its application of Kelo. In a majority opinion authored by Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs and joined by Circuit Judge Amalya L. Kearse, the Second Circuit held that the Takings Clause permits the use of eminent domain for public purposes even when there are plausible allegations that the government had “ulterior motives.” Brinkmann, 96 F.4th at 218.