Free Republic

Feeling irrationally angry after an argument with his wife in 2015, the police were called on firearm owner Edward Caniglia to perform a welfare check. He agreed to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the hospital to determine suicidality on the condition that police not confiscate his guns. Upon returning to his home, however, Caniglia found that the police had unconstitutionally searched his house and seized his firearms. For the first time in 13 years, the Court upheld both privacy and gun rights, this time unanimously. Caniglia v. Strom’s 9-0 decision has the potential to create lasting effects and set precedent...

Did you hear that Joe Biden’s Department of Justice wanted the Supreme Court to rule that police could search Americans’ homes for firearms — and confiscate them — without a warrant?In the case of Caniglia vs. Strom, this issue was in play. Had SCOTUS ruled that police could do that, your Second Amendment rights would have been in grave jeopardy.In March, Biden’s DoJ filed a brief with the Supreme Court in this case. It said:In its first amicus brief before the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice argued the actions taken by law enforcement to confiscate the petitioner’s firearms without...

The United States is supposed to be the "land of the free," a country where individualism and private property are sacrosanct. Yet it's difficult to maintain this belief while watching Courtney Moorehead Balaker's newly released movie, "Little Pink House." The film portrays the real-life story of the determined families who fought to protect their homes in New London, Connecticut, during and after city officials' shameful attempts to evict them starting in 1998. Shockingly, in 2005, it was the Supreme Court that inflicted the ultimate defeat to the homeowners, who lost everything in the process. Depressing, right? Actually, the movie turns...

Donald Trump’s high standing in the polls is attributable entirely to the fact that he’s not a Washington insider, not part of the racket, and despite his wealth really might actually give a damn about the Little Guy. So why is he saying things like this? Donald Trump on Wednesday defended government property seizures as a “necessary thing,” even when it means involuntarily taking property from a private owner to transfer it to another business. Trump was speaking to reporters outside the capital statehouse moments before formally filing his candidacy for the February primary, and the Washington Examiner pressed him...

Scalia ranked Kelo among the top cases in which the court made a mistake of political judgment, according to the Sun-Times account. The others were the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision in favor of a slave owner and the Roe v. Wade decision finding a constitutional right to abortion. “My court has, by my lights, made many mistakes of law during its distinguished two centuries of existence,” Scalia said. “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....

A critic of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that governments may seize private property for economic development is suggesting the process be used to replace Justice David Souter's New Hampshire home with a hotel. "The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare," Logan Darrow Clements wrote in a fax to town officials in Weare Tuesday. [. . .] Clements is CEO of Los Angeles-based Freestar Media, which fights "abusive" government. "This is not a prank," he said...

Supreme Court's Kelo Decision Trashes Taxpayer Rights as Well as Property Rights, Citizen Group Says 6/23/2005 1:13:00 PM To: National Desk Contact: Pete Sepp or Annie Patnaude, 703-683-5700, both of the National Taxpayers Union ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. Supreme Court's narrow 5-4 ruling in the Kelo v. City of New London case today has wide implications for taxpayers, not just property owners, according to the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), a non-partisan citizen group that filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case on behalf of the homeowners. John Berthoud, President of NTU,...

If a state Supreme Court judge approaches a journalist at a private dinner and says something newsworthy about an important decision, is the journalist free to publish the statement? I faced that situation at a dinner honoring the Connecticut Supreme Court at the New Haven Lawn Club on May 11, 2010. That night I had delivered the keynote address on the U.S. Supreme Court's infamous 5-4 decision in Kelo v. New London. Susette Kelo was in the audience and I used the occasion to tell her personal story, as documented in my book "Little Pink House."

Harold Ford Jr., a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, has endorsed the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. New London, allowing local governments to seize provate property and give it to another private owner for purposes of econonmic development and to increase the government's tax revenue. Blogging for Bryant has Ford's quote: "I've always believed individual rights are a big thing..... but, I find value in the court's decision. As long as people are compensated fairly, I can appreciate the decision. Certain areas in our state are crying for development, if this decision helps - it's a...

In a recent speech in Hawaii, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made some interesting predictions about two of the Supreme Court’s most notorious decisions: Kelo v. City of New London, which ruled that government can condemn private property and give it to other private owners to promote “economic development,” and Korematsu v. United States, which upheld the internment of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in concentration camps during World War II. On Kelo, Scalia reiterated his 2011 prediction that the decision will eventually be overruled, stating that it “will not survive.” Kelo was a closely divided 5-4 decision (Scalia voted with the...

Although the American people are overwhelming outraged by the recent eminent domain decision of the Supreme Court (Kelo vs. New London), and while many government entities have passed legislation and regulations to minimize its impact, the rapacious takeovers by private developers in New London and Riviera Beach are proceeding at full speed. It appears that nothing can be done to save the citizens of these communities from the legal theft of their property, and probably only a revisiting of this decision by the Supreme Court can save the rest of us from this trashing of a basic American right to...

Should it be any surprise that six years after the horrible landmark Supreme Court's 2005 case Kelo v. City of New London, which brought about the decision that governments could seize private property for the sole reason of "economic development," the Fort Trumbull site in question is today a total dump, where "economic development" by the local government has ceased to ever happen? The Eminent Domain blog, Gideon's Trumpet, points out that the site has sat there for years following the court's decision and has become overgrown with weeds and other vegetation. It is a far cry from the well...

THIS LAND WAS YOUR LAND Warning: Kelo puts church property at risk Policy organization alerts Christians about effects of court decision © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com A prominent Christian lobbying organization is warning its supporters a recent landmark Supreme Court decision puts churches at particular risk for seizure since they do not generate tax revenue for government. "Churches occupy prime city properties all across America, but what will happen if local governments seeking more revenue set their sights on them?" asked Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, in an e-mail. The June 23 Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. City...

CRITICISM of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kelo vs. New London, which permitted the Connecticut city to seize several homes to clear the way for a proposed economic revitalization plan, has become personal. According to an Associated Press article published last week and an article in the July 16 edition of the Union Leader, “people from across the country are joining a campaign to seize Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter’s farmhouse to build a luxury hotel.” Justice Souter did not write the decision in Kelo, but he joined Justice Stevens’ majority opinion. The campaign to seize his property...

Supporters of the residents of New London, Conn., whose homes are in dangers in the wake of last week's Supreme Court landmark eminent-domain decision will hold a rally at the town's City Hall on Tuesday. According to a statement from the Institute for Justice, which has defended the New London residents, two of the plaintiffs, Susette Kelo, for whom the case is named, and Michael Cristofaro will participate in the rally set for 6 p.m. before the City Council meeting. Said the statement: "This will be the first City Council meeting after the decision, and the protesters hope to send...

One Giant Leap Toward Fascist America, Edward Hudgins, Executive Director, The Objectivist Center, ehudgins@objectivistcenter.org The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing a local government to kick out of the house in which she was born 87 year old Wilhelmina Dery and her husband who has lived there with her for 60 years. Why? Because the government wants to seize their property, bulldoze theirs and many other houses and to sell the land to other businesses and developers for private uses. While one must take great care in choosing words in political discussions, one must not mince them either. This decision in...

The Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London stands as one of the worst in recent years, handing local governments carte blanche to seize private property in the name of economic development. Now, four years after that decision gave Susette Kelo's land to private developers for a project including a hotel and offices intended to enhance Pfizer Inc.'s nearby corporate facility, the pharmaceutical giant has announced it will close its research and development headquarters in New London, Connecticut. The aftermath of Kelo is the latest example of the futility of using eminent domain as corporate welfare....

Eminent domain protesters picket Sunday in front of the home of David Goebel, chief operating officer of the New London Development Corporation. By PATRICIA DADDONA Day Staff Writer, Waterford Published on 7/25/2005 New London — Eminent domain activists picketed Sunday evening in front of the home of Fort Trumbull redevelopment leader David M. Goebel as he hosted a dinner party in his back yard. The hourlong march, marked by chants that began, “We won't go,” and ended with “How low can you go?” was the first of many that Coalition to Save Fort Trumbull members and supporters say they intend...

In 2005, the Fort Trumbull area of New London Connecticut was a growing middle class neighborhood. The people there were hard working and spent much of their lives building their homes and living out prosperous lives. That came to an end in 2000 when Liberal Fascist Democrats in City hall and in the state capitol of Hartford made a deal with Pfizer corporation to allow them to build a research laboratory and upscale housing in Fort Trumbull. According to estimates by the same lying fascists, over 5000 new jobs would be created. Connecticut was one of the states hardest hit...

Reason Magazine featured a great article that chronicles a new twist in the famous Kelo vs. New London case. This landmark case radically increased the size of government under the eminent domain clause by forcing Susette Kelo to leave her house so that the City of New London could use the land for “economic development” in 2005. The new twist comes from a story recounted by a journalist and author Jeff Benedict. Benedict recounts a recent book reading of The Little Pink House (written on the Kelo case) in which Justice Richard N. Palmer, one of the 4 judges who...