I don’t often agree with Justice O’Conner, but damn she said it well, or rather, James Madison did.
Seizing Property Excerpts – Yahoo! News
“Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result. “(T)hat alone is a just government,” wrote James Madison, “which impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own.”‘ Justice Sandra Day O’Conner in dissent.
Update 9:11pm – I’ve noticed today that quite a few other blogs have also posted on this. I will try to list some of them here:
Toys in the Attic
Juggernuts
Gut Rumbles
There are a bunch more, I will try to post them if I have the time (and if I remember.
Baldilocks
She also posted text from the Fifth Amendment which is below:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.