The Opinion Journal has a screedy piece on the Kelo v. New London decision, and it appears that thde decision is only going to ramp up the rhetoric in the current fight over the judiciary:
So, in just two weeks, the Supreme Court has rendered two major decisions on the limits of government. In Raich v. Gonzales the Court said there are effectively no limits on what the federal government can do using the Commerce Clause as a justification. In Kelo, it’s now ruled that there are effectively no limits on the predations of local governments against private property.
These kinds of judicial encroachments on liberty are precisely why Supreme Court nominations have become such high-stakes battles. If President Bush is truly the “strict constructionist” he professes to be, he will take note of the need to check this disturbing trend should he be presented with a High Court vacancy.
At the SCOTUSblog, Thomas Merrill comments that contrary to all of the apocalyptic rhetoric (one of my specialties), the decision sends ‘the right message’:
As to Kelo, I think the case sends just about the right message. The Court is not prepared to adopt a per se rule against takings for economic development. But the amber light is flashing. Stevens and Kennedy seem to say that careful planning and lots of community input are important in sustaining the use of eminent domain for economic development. Kennedy, in a manner analogous to his Veith concurrence last term, warns that he may come up with a theory in the future which would allow him to go the other way — so watch out! The Court is closely divided 5-4, which means another, more egregious example of condemn-and-retransfer might get struck down. So the message to state courts is: go ahead and use eminent domain for economic development, but please try to take property rights more seriously in the future. I think this is exactly the right message. it preserves federalism in this area, but tries to re-shape values and attitudes to be less casual about overuse of eminent domain, which can be a wrenching experience for people.
I still tend to think this was a pretty horrid decision, and the Instapundit has a link-rich round-up of reactions, including this piece in Tech Central Station by Prof. Bainbridge. More here from Malkin.
Final thoughts on Kennedy and the decision can be found at SOCAL Law Blog.
I lied. Rick Moran has a great round-up here.