PolicyGuy

Tuesday, August 31, 2004


Poletown Logic Won't Die Without a Fight.
The City of Toledo (OH) is ready to use its eminent domain powers to take from the small and give to the mighty. (In this case, a small auto repair shop may be stripped from its owners and given to automotive behometh Chrysler).

Seizing the property of one private party and giving it to another has long been rationalized by a 1981 supreme court case in Michigan, called Poletown. The decision has been cited in other states as a rationale to bless similar actions.

Recently, Michigan's court reversed itself. Will Toledo now back away from its plan? Hardly. Kip Esquire picks up the story, noting the rule of hypocrisy: cite Poletown when it justifies eminent domain abuse, but ignore it once it turns against the schemes of official planners.

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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