In Kelo v. City of New London (2005), the United States Supreme Court upheld the use of the eminent domain power to take property from homeowners for the purpose of economic development. Under the Fifth Amendment, wrote Justice John Paul Stevens for the majority, eminent domain may be used only for a public purpose. But “public purpose” is a broad concept.
Eminent Domain and Economic Development: The Mill Acts and the Origins of Laissez-Faire Constitutionalism
