Property rights have been under assault since the Supreme Court’s infamous 2005 ruling Kelo v. New London. In Kelo, the Supreme Court held that a local government could use eminent domain to take private property from a homeowner and transfer it to a private company in the name of promoting economic development. Homeowners have worried that this ruling is so broad that it would let the government take anyone’s land for any nebulous “public purpose.” Smith, Larry. The Tidewater News 17 October 2012.
