Sunday, June 25, 2006

Bush's New Executive Order

Here's the link to "Executive Order: Protecting the Property Rights of the American People" I'm not sure how this plays out against the recent Supreme Court decision on eminent domain.

"It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken. "

This clause only applies to the Federal Government, so it doesn't do anything about cases where it is the state and county taking private land for private use. Further, I thought that one of the key arguments in the recent Supreme Court case was that taking private land for private use could be considered "public" use if it provided enough "common good" to the community. So, to my friends that have greater legal knowledge than myself I ask the question: "Does this order actually accomplish anything?"

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