JLF staffers continue to respond to the Supreme
Court’s troubling 5-4 decision in Kelo vs. City of New London. The
ruling, which allows local governments to seize private property for
private redevelopment, will be discussed Sunday on NBC 17’s “At Issue” with
Donna Martinez and guest Marc Rotterman. Martinez and Summer Hood
weighed in on the court’s action last Friday on WPTF-AM. Court commentaries by Paul Chesser and
George Leef have been published in national venues. Leef’s letter to
the editor of The Wall Street Journal noted that the Kelo decision
should be called “statist” rather than “liberal” and his piece in
Freedom Daily echoed a similar theme. Chesser, writing for the weekly
Christian newsmagazine, WORLD, focused on the potential for Kelo to
endanger the property of churches if officials look at replacing church
property with tax-producing entities.