Free Republic

Connecticut legislators will soon have an opportunity to end eminent domain abuse in their state. With Connecticut being the home of perhaps the most universally despised decision in recent U.S. Supreme Court history - Kelo vs. City of New London - the nation will be watching to see if Connecticut stops the abuse of eminent domain for private business development. Unfortunately for Connecticut people, most of the legislative proposals under consideration fall very far short of the mark in protecting property owners. Connecticut has perhaps the most sweeping law in the country authorizing the use of eminent domain for private...

Last week, I reported on the Supreme Court's Kelo vs City of New London decision, which seriously weakened Constitutionally guaranteed private property rights. Now, in what can only be viewed as an attempt at pure poetic justice, a budding developer, businessman Logan Darrow Clements, has begun the process of seizing Supreme Court Justice David Souter's homestead in Weare, New Hampshire and replacing it with a hotel. Citing the Kelo decision, Clements has contacted Weare's building official, saying: "Although this property is owned by an individual, David H. Souter, a recent Supreme Court decision, "Kelo vs. City of New London" clears...

Looks like the man trying to take over Supreme Court justice David Souter's New Hampshire home is a Free Stater (www.FreeStateProject.org). He's retaliating against Souter's support for eminent domain abuse in this weeks Kelo vs. New London ruling. From the Concord Monitor: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050629/REPOSITORY/506290321/1031 'Hotel' targets Souter's home Property rights advocates make protest personal By MEG HECKMAN Monitor staff June 29. 2005 8:00AM A letter that emerged yesterday from the fax machine in the Weare Town Hall has thrust Supreme Court Justice David Souter's beloved farmhouse into a national debate over property rights. Souter, a longtime Weare resident, joined in a...

Ballot initiative would ask city to seize justice's New Hampshire home The man behind the effort to have Supreme Court Justice David Souter's New England home seized by the local government to make way for a hotel is sponsoring a rally in Weare, N.H., next month, hoping supporters from around the nation will help residents collect signatures for a ballot initiative requesting the condemnation.As WorldNetDaily reported, Los Angeles advertising entrepreneur Logan Darrow Clements has spearheaded a campaign to have the city of Weare, N.H., condemn Souter's property, a modest 200-year-old farmhouse on eight acres, in retaliation for his vote approving...

Logan Darrow Clements, the man behind the movement to seize U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter's New Hampshire home through eminent domain will be the guest today on "Joseph Farah's WorldNetDaily RadioActive," the nationally syndicated talk program. Clements will announce the latest developments to turn the tables on one of the justices behind the court's Kelo decision that permits local municipalities to use eminent domain to take homes and businesses away from owners and give them to private developers in an effort to increase the tax base.

LETTER OF INTENT To: Mr. David Hackett Souter From: ****************, a California licensed real estate broker (Address, phone redacted) Date: July 23, 2005 re: that certain real property located at 34 Cilley Hill Rd., Weare NH 03281 (complete legal description to be furnished in escrow) Mr. Souter: I represent a group of investors who are interested in purchasing your property in Weare, NH, which is above described. Pursuant to their wishes, I hereby tender this LETTER OF INTENT, which outlines the terms and conditions under which they would make the purchase. 1. PRICE. $75,000 2. DEPOSIT: $2,000, to be tendered...

We must show that no one is above law; KEITH R. LACASSE, Weare - Letter I would like to respond to Jim Thompson ("Weare must not look to punish Souter,"Monitor, Jan. 11) and clarify a few things for Weare voters. It is not only my assumption that most people in Weare oppose the abuse of eminent domain for economic development but also a fact: UNH conducted a poll, and over 90 percent are against it. I don't think readers of this paper need a civics lesson on how a bill becomes law or on the role of the courts. The...

WEARE, N.H. - Residents on Saturday rejected a proposal to evict U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter from his farmhouse to make way for the "Lost Liberty Hotel." A group angered by last year's court decision that gave local governments more power to seize people's homes for economic development had petitioned to use the ruling against the justice. But voters deciding which issues should go on the town's March ballot replaced the group's proposal with a call to strengthen New Hampshire's law on eminent domain. "This is a game," said Walter Bohlin. "Why would we take something from one of...

Duke University president Richard Brodhead, who abandoned his own students and took the word of a prostitute before knowing the facts in the infamous Duke Lacrosse case, has served as co- chairman of an allegedly bipartisan group convened by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to investigate the value of the humanities in the college curriculum. Members of the quango included filmmakers Ken Burns and George Lucas, musicians Yo-Yo Ma and Emmylou Harris, actor John Lithgow and retired Supreme Court justice David Souter -- an odd assortment to be called on to interpret academic trends. Said Brodhead in a...

If you look at the values and the historical record, you will see that the Founding Fathers never intended guns to go unregulated, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer contended Sunday. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Breyer said history stands with the dissenters in the court's decision to overturn a Washington, D.C., handgun ban in the 2008 case "D.C. v. Heller." Breyer wrote the dissent and was joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He said historians would side with him in the case because they have concluded that Founding Father James Madison was more...

I’ve obtained a copy of an interesting letter that Harvard law professor Larry Tribe wrote to his protégé, President Barack Obama, in the immediate aftermath of Justice Souter’s announcement of his decision to retire from the Court. I will post a PDF of the letter shortly. [Update: Here’s the letter.] In the meantime, I’ll call attention, in this post and two or three others, to some of its highlights. The express purpose of Tribe’s letter is to urge that Obama nominate Elena Kagan to the Souter vacancy. But before making his affirmative case for Kagan, Tribe argues strongly against the...

One wonders how Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center managed to get a hold of a private letter sent to President Obama by Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe advising him against nominating Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, but be that as it may, its contents are quite interesting and show just how nakedly political Tribe’s view of a justice really is and also how little he thinks of Sotomayor. In the May 2009 letter (PDF link here), Tribe advises Obama to refrain from choosing Sotomayor because “she’s not nearly as smart as she seems to think...

Retired Supreme Court justice David H. Souter will be the principal speaker at Harvard University's commencement this spring, the college said today. Souter, a graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, served on the high court from 1990 until June 2009. While a member of the court, he emerged as a crucial defender of abortion rights and the separation of church and state. “During his years on the nation’s highest court, Justice Souter approached the vital work of judging with a deep sense of independence and fairness, a close attention to the facts of each case, and a clear concern...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says Judge Sonia Sotomayor may be a "trade-up" from Justice David Souter.

Sonia Sotomayor Worse on Abortion Than David Souter? Washington, DC -- In a new editorial column appearing in the Washington Times, Charmaine Yoest, the president of Americans United for Life, makes the case that Sonia Sotomayor is worse on abortion than David Souter, the Supreme Court justice President Barack Obama appointed her to replace. Full story at: http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5153.html

On his 100th day in office, President Barack Obama started campaigning for reelection in 2012. He went to a small town in Missouri, a red state he didn't carry last year, and boasted that "we've begun the work of remaking America." Indeed, he has begun to do exactly that with trillions of dollars turned over to the executive branch of government by the legislative branch. A few days later, the announced resignation of Supreme Court Justice David Souter gave Obama the additional power to use the judicial branch to remake America into Obama-nation. When asked what sort of a justice...

Sometimes even when you attend an event, and take part in it, it still takes time to understand it. I had the honor to speak at the Knoxville Tea Party, as Ben Franklin, a printer from Philadelphia. The visible, massive driving force for that and all 750+ Tea Parties with 1+ million people in attendance was taxes. But the real issue was larger and deeper than taxes. When the mainstream media attempt to deal seriously with this phenomenon, they phrase it as “conservative” as opposed to “liberal.” Sometimes it’s no such thing. The Tea Parties are related to the present...

I wouldn’t want to entice Harry Reid into violating his religious principles. But he is a senator from the state home to Las Vegas after all, so perhaps I could coax him into a friendly flutter, all for charity’s sake, of course . . . Appearing on Today this morning, Reid dismissed Matt Lauer’s suggestion that there’s no chance Pres. Obama would appoint a white male to fill David Souter’s soon-to-be-empty Supreme Court seat. Alright then, Sen. Reid. Since you think there’s a realistic chance Pres. Obama might nominate a melanin-deficient male, let me offer you the following proposition: View...

CNN) – Janet Napolitano just started her first Washington job — but speculation lingers over whether she might be interested in a more permanent post in the nation's capital. The Homeland Security secretary continued to shrug off questions Sunday over whether or not she'd be willing to serve on the Supreme Court if she were tapped by President Obama to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice David Souter."You know Chris, I got to tell you, I got my hands full with the flu right now and I’m just going to stick with that," she told Fox News...

Obama will look for a “nontraditional” judge – speculation is rampant that his choice will be a Hispanic, or another woman - to find one who is not so egregiously left–leaning as to ensure Repubs close ranks and peel off a couple of moderate Dems to filibuster the confirmation – taking comfort in the near certainty that his seemingly centrist nominee is likely to drift further and further left over time. Though the majority of Supreme Court Justices proved ideologically malleable over the course of their tenures, here’s why Obama’s choice won’t be a “stealth” conservative, as Souter turned out to be...