01 July 2005

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By now, you've probably heard about this plan to seize a justice's land for a hotel. I would like to point out that the 'justice' in such an action is far more poetic than it first appears. The first section of the 14th Amendment was added to our constitution to force states to comply with rights in the bill of rights (which they were not previously bound to respect), a specific example given by it's authors was to prevent state legislatures from using eminent domain seizures as a form of punishment or to effect discrimination.

Courts have claimed ever since that the authors didn't really mean it. The impact back then was the establishment of Jim Crow laws, the impact today is Kelo and this. By accepting their predecessors claims that states can abridge rights whenever they really want, the justices have opened themselves up to the punishment their predecessors refused to protect others from.

Goe, can't sleep.

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