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Case Study: Objection To Eminent Domain

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I. Objection to Eminent Domain Under the Takings Clause The state will be able to exercise its power of eminent domain where it intends to use the property for public use and will tender just compensation to the owner and prospective purchaser of the property. Both Ms. Owner and Mr. Purchaser’s objections to Madison County’s exercise of eminent domain will fail as a matter of law. The Madison County Council’s decision to deny final permitting for a housing development, as contemplated and contracted for by Mr. Purchaser, voting instead to acquire Ms. Owner’s open land to build sporting and park-related items on the property is most definitely a taking. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that someone who has been impacted by a taking has …show more content…

Although there were public meetings held on the issue, there was no personal notice to either the owner or the purchaser and depending on how notice was made of the meetings, both the owner and the purchaser may have valid arguments, but their rights were usurped in violation of procedural due process. However, here again, as the county is acting under its power to promote public welfare, it will survive any challenge made by Ms. Owner or Mr. Purchaser that there were violations of due …show more content…

The constitutionality of this tax will pass constitutional muster under Congress’s broad power under the commerce clause. The Supreme Court just recently noted “[o]ur case law firmly establishes Congress’ power to regulate purely local activities that are part of an economic “class of activities” that have a substantial effect on interstate commerce.” The power to regulate landfills by the use of excise taxes where they present environmental and other concerns may well be found within the power of the federal government under the Commerce Clause. Indeed, where the state’s taxes on landfills have found to be discriminatory the power to tax such landfills may rest on the federal government specially where “[f]or the first century of our history, the primary use of the [Commerce] Clause was to preclude the kind of discriminatory state legislation that had once been permissible.” Congress clearly has the power under the Commerce Clause “to regulate activities that substantially affect interstate commerce” and can “regulate purely intrastate activity that is not itself ‘commercial,’ in that it is not produced for sale.” The imposition of an excise tax such as the one proposed here is tantamount to regulation of landfills, which the federal government clearly has the power to do under the Commerce

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