![]() ![]() It was a five-to-four split in favor of New London. Supreme Court agreed to hear Kelo’s case.Īrguments were in early 2005 and the decision was handed down four months later. Sure enough, in a move that stunned both sides, the U.S. Yet the dissenting opinion was strong enough that IJ thought they might have a glimmer of a chance at another appeal. ![]() Both sides then appealed to the Connecticut Supreme Court, which upheld all the seizures in a contentious four-to-three decision. The case went first to a Connecticut trial court, which in 2002 struck down most though not all of the takings. IJ agreed to represent them pro bono and launched a legal and public relations offensive, handling Kelo’s suit while also publicizing her story. For help, they called upon the Institute for Justice (IJ), a libertarian law firm in Washington (full disclosure: my wife works at IJ). Rather than comply, she and some of the holdouts decided to sue the city. Kelo was served with an eviction notice-during Thanksgiving week, no less-that ordered her out of her home. Unable to badger Kelo, New London authorities turned instead to eminent domain, which is when the government, acting under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, acquires “private property” for “public use” after providing “just compensation.” Generally uncontroversial when employed for public projects like roads and power lines, using eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another is a different story entirely. Among them was Susette Kelo, the owner of a riverside cottage that she’d bought, fixed up, and painted pink. Yet seven of the holders refused to move. It quickly set about doing just that, offering them more than their land would otherwise be worth, overhung by the silent threat of property seizure if they didn’t sell. That meant the NLDC needed to acquire the property of about 90 owners in Fort Trumbull. There was just one problem: Pfizer wanted a lot of space. At the groundbreaking ceremony in 1998, Rowland portentously declared, “Years from now, this will be a case study in how to revive a community.” It wasn’t long before they had a bite: Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant, agreed to build a massive new headquarters in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. The NLDC, with Rowland’s blessing, went hunting for developers. Reluctant to collaborate with local Democrats, he decided instead to work through the New London Development Corporation (NLDC) to revive the area. To that end, he looked southeast to New London, where the recent closure of a major submarine research lab had left the city economically listless. The story begins in the late 1990s, in Connecticut’s capital of Hartford, where a young and ambitious Republican governor named John Rowland was eager for a success story in a deep blue state. The case opened the door for the nearly unlimited use of eminent domain and attracted bipartisan outrage that endures to this day. New London decision was handed down, which affirmed the city’s right to seize private property and hand it to a developer. Fifteen years ago this month, the infamous Kelo v. ![]() ![]() Once a great martyr of the Revolution, Fort Trumbull has since become the site of one of the most hated Supreme Court rulings in history. Across the Thames River at Fort Griswold, another British force met stiff resistance, though they eventually massacred most of the Americans there.Ī month later, at the Battle of Yorktown, Lafayette would exhort the American troops under his command to “remember New London.” Today, you’re more likely to hear that from a lawyer than you are a general. Arnold and his men easily overran Fort Trumbull, which defended New London, then burned most of the city to the ground. New London for decades had been a haven for privateers, and for much of the Revolution had been the lone American-held deepwater port between British-controlled New York and Newport. In 1781, a force of British troops under the command of the turncoat Benedict Arnold landed in the city of New London, Connecticut. ![]()
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