Kelo v. New London

Just how bad was the Supreme Court's ruling in Kelo? Very bad, as Professor Ilya Somin explains in his new book.

Whenever a judge turns to rational-basis analysis, he’s basically saying, ‘You think two plus two equals five, and I don’t know how to add.’ — Professor Richard Epstein, at an interesting debate sponsored earlier this evening by the Columbia Law School Federalist Society. Professor Epstein and Chief Judge Alex Kozinski (9th Cir.) debated the merits […]

My court has, by my lights, made many mistakes of law during its distinguished two centuries of existence. But it has made very few mistakes of political judgment, of estimating how far … it could stretch beyond the text of the constitution without provoking overwhelming public criticism and resistance. Dred Scott was one mistake of […]

Had I known all of what you just told us, I would have voted differently. I’m sorry. — Justice Richard Palmer (the deciding vote in the groundbreaking Kelo v. New London case) of the Connecticut Supreme Court apologizing to Susette Kelo and keynote address speaker Jeff Benedict at a dinner honoring the Court. Benedict’s novel, […]