Not for Sale : Kelo V. New London and the Modern Debate Over Eminent Domain

The dramatic story of how a small neighborhood in Connecticut became the site and symbol of a political conflict over the use of eminent domain, mobilizing a national property rights movement. In 2000, Susette Kelo and other residents of the Fort Trumbull neighborhood sued the city of New London, Connecticut.Two years earlier, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer had built a facility adjacent to this area.Shortly thereafter, the city empowered the privately owned New London Development Corporation to use the power of eminent domain to implement a “comprehensive redevelopment plan” for the neighborhood.While the plaintiffs argued that economic development did not qualify as a valid “public use” under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, the Supreme Court decided in a controversial 2005 decision that the potential economic benefits of the plan justified the condemnation of private property as long as appropriate compensation was paid. The Kelo decision implied that any town could transf