February 21, 2005 On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will be faced with the following question: Under what conditions, if any, can the government take property from you or your business for the public good? Although the question sounds straightforward enough, its answer will have profound, complex - and terribly important - consequences for the future of American social policy. Under current law, the government can take your house or land. In order to do so, it must merely show that the property is being taken for a legitimate "public use," and it must pay a fair compensation. That's the law of "eminent domain." It can also, under certain circumstances, take money out of your business or limit the amount of money you can take out of your business, if it has a good, publicly beneficial reason to do so.
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If Epstein and his allies are victorious, it will be the culmination of a long-standing conservative battle to constitutionally undermine the New Deal administrative state.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-garbus21feb21,0,6314864,print.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions -- Marta Russell Los Angeles, CA http://www.martarussell.com/