Letters To The Editor

Supreme Court deals a blow to property rights

The Fifth Amendment took a big hit last week ("High court upholds eminent domain," June 24).

It is one thing to condemn property for the purpose of constructing a public road.

It is another thing for public authorities to condemn the property of one citizen so another citizen or private enterprise may profit from the location.

Citizens and residents of this country will be at the mercy of wealthy developers and their armies of lawyers as a result of this ruling.

Last week, the Fifth Amendment was curtailed.

Tomorrow it could be the First Amendment (which guarantees freedom of the press, assembly, expression, religion, etc.) or another part of the Bill of Rights.

Jon Valentine

Severna Park

The decision the Supreme Court rendered on eminent domain is the latest in a long series of government attacks on private property.

The framers certainly never intended this outrageous interpretation of the Constitution.

The court has made a mockery of the Fifth Amendment's "public use" clause.

Now developers can easily entice local governments to take existing property with the simple lure of increased tax revenue.

This assault on private property must not stand.

In the future, the president must appoint justices who will overturn it.

Dudley Thompson

Riverside

Ruling ratifies power of the developers

The Supreme Court decision allowing carte blanche eminent domain to private developers should shock all Americans, from the most conservative to the most progressive ("High court upholds eminent domain," June 24).

Taking a person's land with compensation to build a hospital, school, library or other public use facility has always been fairly easy.

But now the Supreme Court allows the taking of people's homes to benefit private enterprise. This should send shock waves across the country.

Here in Baltimore, the anti-community, pro-development forces of the Baltimore Development Corp. and City Hall's favorite developers must be doing cartwheels with this latest turn against private property owners.

They already set the agenda in City Hall for land use.

Now they have the conservative Supreme Court to justify their lordship over our communities.

Myles Hoenig

Baltimore

Decision sustains form of class warfare