Revenge: A dish best served family style.

Please forgive my law school nerd-acity. But this is a fantastic display of revenge and avarice.

Here’s the background:

In the Kelo case, the Supreme Court held that the government would be able to “take” the well-maintained land of an individual in order to serve the public purpose of economic development.

Now, a taking is when the government seizes private property for a “public purpose.” The federal and state governments are able to do this thru the takings clause in the 5th Amendment, as long as the party having her property seized receives “just compensation.” It is also important to note that municipal governments can take property when they have been delegated that power by their state.

Where it gets very sticky is when you try to define what a public purpose is. The easy case is an example where the property being taken is going to be used for an airport or a park or a municipal building. It’s easy because the government would still be holding onto the land.

In Kelo, New London wanted to give the land to Pfizer, who wanted to put in a new facility that would generate mucho tax dollars for the city. For a plurality of the court, the increased tax revenue was enough. A member of the plurality was Justice Souter.

The Reckoning

Apparently, some folks in New Hampshire didn’t like the outcome of Kelo all that much. In response, they drew up a nifty economic development plan that included taking Justice Souter’s beach front property and putting up a hotel. The name of the hotel: The Lost Liberty Hotel. While staying at the Lost Liberty Hotel, be sure to check out the Just Desserts Café. I’m not even making this up.