I never agreed with that U.S. Supreme Court decision either.

If I recall the story correctly, the pharmaceutical company that built on the seized land later closed it down (disclaimer: I could be off in the details.) If true, talk about rubbing salt in the wounds.

The good news is that Supremes' decision inspired a lot of state lawmaking restricting eminent domain by businesses.

On the second page of the linked article:
=== ===
Benedict (reporter):  Looking back at the Kelo decision (by the Connecticut Supreme Court), how do you see it now? In other words, has it led to good law?

Justice Palmer:  I think that our court ultimately made the right decision insofar as it followed governing U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

Whether the Kelo case has led to good statutory law is not a question for me or my court; so long as that law is constitutional, its merits are beyond the scope of our authority. Of course, judges are also citizens and, therefore, we may hold a view on the merits, but that view should not interfere with or affect our legal judgment concerning the law's constitutionality.
=== ===

So, The Supreme Court continues to support the Kelo decision. Justice Palmer is only sorry that there was a bad outcome. His comment "Had I known all of what you just told us, I would have voted differently." is more emotion than truth.

Only a revision of of our Constitution and a specific restatement of its principles will be enough to change the arbitrary decisions now known as constitutional law. Constitutional law was hijacked by FDR and will only be restored by a specific, political revolution.

"If I recall the story correctly, the pharmaceutical company that built on the seized land later closed it down (disclaimer: I could be off in the details.) "

Actually nothing was ever built on the site. It sits empty today.

If Justice Palmer wants to make amends, he can start by using his influence to champion a Constitutional amendment overturning Kelo. So may say it is improper for a judge to do this. However, I think it would be entirely proper for a judge to work towards legal means of overturning a decision he realizes, after the fact, was the wrong one.

How could anyone have ever thought the Kelo decision was a good one?

Laws are only as good as their enforcement.

The fact is that eminent domain has been so badly abused over the years that we the people should invoke our right to remove that power from the government.

Our justice system is built upon the principle that it is better that 10 guilty men go free than 1 innocent be unjustly punished.

Should it not be equally said that it is better for a city's revenue be reduced by millions than that one citizen have their rightful property seized from their hands and given to someone else?

After I've built my business into something successful and can retire comfortably...I'm running for office and the first thing I'm going to do is go after eminent domain.

Maybe a nice little rule that states that no privately owned property may be seized by government authority unless it is obtained by criminal means, AFTER a guilty plea is achieved. And that such property may not be leased, sold, rented, or in any way transferred or used by a private corporation of any kind for 50 years after the seizure.

After that, then its a crusade against public unions.

Good bye fat retirement check on the citizens backs.

Then its off to the senate to put senators and representatives back on the payrolls of their states, and off the federal payroll. (They're essentially hired by the states, why should they get federal pay?)

Then its after the conflicts of interest...no SEC employee should be allowed to leave his employment to get a job with the company he was supposed to be watching.

No General making decisions about military hardware purchases should be retiring to work for the companies he was buying from before that.

No government contracts should be awarded to companies employing the family members of any political figure.

...I'm so getting assassinated. 'lol'

The judge later clarified to the author that he felt his decision was legally sound and !that he was sorry she had suffered to he decision.

I think the TSA, certainly as implemented, is terrible. What happebed to you, and many others, is horribly wrong.

But Kelo? Wait a minute...

First, thie current story. Justice Palmer was NOT apologising for the exercise of eminent domain, but that he would not have voted the way he did had he known, which had not been divulged, that the Pfizer development was already obsolete and would almost certainly not occur.

Now, the Supremes. Their decision was that the eminent domain law was not unconstitutional - basically as far as they can go, a yes-or-no. BUT the opinion[s] were quite forceful that it was nonetheless a bad law, and that all such laws should be looked at and most altered.

I don't really know what to say about the apathy regarding the loss of our rights and freedoms. Your experience with the lady in the cafe mirrors many of my own.

I am tempted to say that if Americans don't value their freedom, then they don't deserve to keep it, yet where does that leave those of us who do?

For myself, I can say that I will remain a free man, despite federal machinations, but perhaps it won't be here.

Listen, I'm not a young man. But when Kelo was announced, I literally telephoned my mother for a voice of consolation. I couldn't believe the conservative Court could so casually trod the rights of American homeowners... And then I found out how it had gone down.

In other news, there were two executions last night. My twitter feed was choked with snarking, pouty-toned comments about the evil of CP... But guess which execution was mentioned only once.

Also-

> But, it is.

I'll give you five dollars if you go a calendar year without starting a sentence by "But" and a comma.

Comma fuckups make my flesh crawl. These are turbulent times for one of punctuation's great workhorses.

OK, "tread". Sorry.

Two random funnies.

Crid,

There is life beyond 140 characters. Enough already.

Learn <a href> and <blockqute></blockqute>. I don't have a twitter account and your tweet references are extremely slow to download.

Kiss a girl!

Besides, a href is how I link. Tweet, tweet.

I am less magnanimous than Suzette Kelo. In her place, I would have replied, "In light of your acknowledged incompetence, when will you be resigning?"

I'd have punched the mother fucker in the face.

And honestly which is worse? That he supported corperate theft of private property via government officals(who probably had cousins working for said corperation)

Or that he thinks the reason for his mistake was soley that the deal had fallen thru?