Today, the Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari in Bowers v. Oneida County Industrial Development Agency, a case in which the Institute for Justice sought to persuade the Supreme Court to overrule Kelo v. City of New London (2005). Kelo was the controversial case in which the Court held that the government could use eminent domain to take property in order to promote private “economic development,” even though the Fifth Amendment says property can only be taken for a “public use.”
I and other property rights advocates very much hoped the Court would take this case. I outlined the reasons why in an amicus brief I wrote on behalf of the Cato Institute and myself.
Today’s outcome is disappointing. And, as is their usual practice, the justices did not give any reasons for why they chose not to hear a case, so we are left wondering why they didn’t like Bowers, and what it would take to get them to hear another case on this issue.
However, as explained in our brief, “pretextual” takings doctrine is a big mess, and four current Supreme Court justices have expressed interest in revisiting or overruling Kelo. So there is yet hope they will take another case addressing this issue, perhaps even in the near future.
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