This month there will come before the Supreme Court a case on eminent domain.
Needlenose has a nice summation of the central issue: big government and big business against the individual. The case looks at the right of a government to declare eminent domain on private property and then turn around and transfer the ownership to another private entity, like for a stadium, big box store (like Walmart), car dealership or whatever. More below the split.
The amicus briefs supporting the petitioners have been filed by a wide variety of groups.
# America's Future, Inc., et al.
# American Farm Bureau Federation, et al. (1.4 MB)
# Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
# Better Government Association, et al.
# Professors David L. Callies, et al. (1.4 MB)
# Cascade Policy Institute, et al.
# The Cato Institute
# Claremont Institute
# Develop Don't Destroy (Brooklyn), Inc., et al.
# Goldwater Institute, et al.
# Jane Jacobs (2 MB)
# King Ranch, Inc.
# Laura B. Kohr, et al.
# Mountain States Legal Foundation, et al.
# NAACP, AARP, et al. (1.8 MB)
# National Association of Homebuilders, et al. (1.4 MB)
# New London Landmarks, Inc., et al. (2.2 MB)
# New London Railroad Co., Inc.
# John Norquist, President, Congress for New Urbanism (1.5 MB)
# Pacific Legal Foundation, et al.
# Property Rights Foundation of America (4 MB)
# Reason Foundation
# Robert Nigel Richards, et al.
# Rutherford Institute (1.1 MB)
# Tidewater Libertarian Party
For the Respondants, we find
# American Planning Association, et al.
# Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD), et al. (6.6 MB)
# Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, et al.
# National League of Cities, et al.
# Law Professors Robert H. Freilich, et al.
I'd like to find out if the Bush Administration is supporting the respondants or the petitioners. Do any of the amicus brief filers for the respondants have connections to the Republican party and/or Bush Administration? My suspicion is that they do.
Check out the case over at FindLaw.
Even the most conservative people I've spoken with get hot and bothered by this case. If we can show connection or at least sympathy between Bush and the respondants, it can be one more link showing explicitely the connection between the conservatives and big business. One more nail in the coffin of the Republicans standing up for the little guy.
I'll find out what I can, but my time is limited and so are my resources.
Thanks for any help!
Plane Crazy