The Stevens legacy

There they go again:

Would you let the government take your car and give it to someone else? How about your computer, television set, house, or business? What if the government said you would be paid  yet you had no choice?

That's the dilemma in Auburn, New York, where the city is threatening to invoke eminent domain to seize private property for a private project -a hotel conference center, saying the public good outweighs the private property rights of some citizens.

 And it's legal.

[. . .]

The prospect of the government forcing the sale of someone's land against their will has touched a nerve here. There have been protests and calls against the plan. But two property owners reportedly have reached an agreement, including a Chinese restaurant whose owners emigrated from Communist China and said in public hearings that they  never knew there was a law on the books in America that permitted the state to seize their land for private, commercial purposes.

This legalized theft of property that shocks even someone from Communist China was made possible by the Kelo decision, which was written by John Paul Stevens, whose empathy for the "common people" has been made so much of since his announced retirement. Fork over whatever they want, but they feel your pain. Swell.