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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (314957)	7/16/2009 5:59:44 PM
From: Tom Clarke	3 Recommendations Respond to of 793905

The Outside Witness Panels on C-Span 3 have been illuminating. I wish they scheduled them BEFORE Sotomayor testified so she could be questioned about her legal reasoning on cases that were brought up. A law professor specializing in property rights cited her decision in Didden v. Port Chester. I can't believe how awful this ruling was. She ruled in favor of extortion! The fruits of Kelo.... >>In 1999, the village of Port Chester, N.Y., established a "redevelopment area" and gave its designated developer, Gregg Wasser, a virtual blank check to condemn property within it. In 2003, property owners Bart Didden and Dominick Bologna approached Wasser for permission to build a CVS pharmacy on land they own inside the zone. His response: Either pay me $800,000 or give me a 50% partnership interest in the CVS project. Wasser threatened to have the local government condemn the land if his demands weren't met. When the owners refused to oblige, their property was condemned the next day. Didden and Bologna challenged the condemnation in federal court, on the grounds that it was not for a "public use," as the Fifth Amendment requires. Their view, quite simply, was that out-and-out extortion does not qualify as a public use. Nonetheless, the 2d Circuit . . . upheld this flexing of political muscle. volokh.com edit: Just realized the author of the Volokh post is the same guy who testified today. He was a great witness!