Opinion of the Court
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.
In 2000, the city of New London approved a development plan that, in the words of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, was “projected to create in excess of 1,000 jobs, to increase tax and other revenues, and to revitalize an economically distressed city, including its downtown and waterfront areas.” 268 Conn. 1, 5, 843 A. 2d 500, 507 (2004). In assembling the land needed for this project, the city’s development agent has purchased property from willing sellers and proposes to use the power of eminent domain to acquire the remainder of the property from unwilling owners in exchange for just compensation. The question presented is whether the city’s proposed disposition of this property qualifies as a “public use” within the meaning of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.[1]
Maryland, Mike McGrath of Montana, Eliot Spitzer of New York, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, Patrick C. Lynch of Rhode Island, Lawrence E. Long of South Dakota, and Paul G. Summers of Tennessee; for the American Planning Association et al. by Thomas W. Merrill and John D. Echeverria; for Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD) et al. by David T. Goldberg and Sean H. Donahue; for the California Redevelopment Association by Iris P. Yang; for the City of New York by Michael A. Cardozo, Leonard J. Koerner, Edward F. X. Hart, and Jane L. Gordon; for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities et al. by Allan B. Taylor and Michael P. Shea; for the K. Hovnanian Companies, LLC, by Paul H. Schneider; for the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties by R. Jeffrey Lyman and Richard A. Oetheimer; for the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore by Ralph S. Tyler III; for the National League of Cities et al. by Richard Ruda, Timothy J. Dowling, and J. Peter Byrne; for the New York State Urban Development Corp. d/b/a Empire State Development Corp. by Joseph M. Ryan, John R. Casolaro, Susan B. Kalib, and Jack Kaplan; and for Robert H. Freilich et al. by Mr. Freilich, pro se.
- ↑ “[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” U. S. Const., Amdt. 5. That Clause is made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment. See Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Chicago, 166 U. S. 226 (1897).
