Irac Paper

April Marshall

IRAC BRIEF

CASE: 545 U.S. 469, Kelo, et al. v. City of New London, Connecticut

Issue: The citizens of New London are having to defend their private property whilst a court proceeds to decide whether the town is able to be taken into consumption for public use.

Rule: The rule of eminent domain serves the Government use for land in regard to economic development within a certain part of the US. It gives the government a valid right to acquire possession of real property in the manner directed by the US Constitution and laws of the state where ever these takings will sufficiently benefit the public and bear reasonable assurances of future public use.

Application: The City of New London successfully negotiated the purchase of most of the real estate in the 90 acre area, but negotiations with some of the property owners failed. In that case, these conditions prompted state and local officials to this case to action, with the city stating that it has carefully formulated an economic development plan that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community. The court considered to roll with the character of the plan, the thorough deliberation that proceeded is adoption, and the limited scope of the review decided for them to resolve the challenges on an individual owners basis, not on a piecemeal basis. Because that plan unquestionably serves the public purpose, the taken challenge here satisfy the public use requirement of the Fifth Amendment.

Conclusion: The court recognized that eminent domain can be a miserable shift for the citizens. Therefore, only when the project is enabling the health of community is this law to be considered.