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June 10, 2008
In dueling briefs, AY eminent domain case ramps up for Supreme Court conference
Atlantic Yards Report
On Thursday, June 12, the justices will meet to decide whether to accept the appeal in the case, known as Goldstein v. Pataki, in which 11 residential and commercial property owners and leaseholders are challenging the state’s plan to use eminent domain to take their properties for Atlantic Yards.
The justices’s decision to accept the case or not should be made public next week. Their decision will be based not on an evaluation of errors in the lower court decisions but on whether they think there are doctrinal differences nationally regading interpretations of the Supreme Court's 2005 Kelo v. New London eminent domain case that must be resolved.
The crux of the Brooklyn case (briefs here), which now involves an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief from the libertarian Institute for Justice, can be seen through two lenses. If the government can claim that there are public benefits from the use of eminent domain, the plaintiffs contend, that shouldn't shut off any inquiry into governmental decisionmaking. By contrast, the defendants argue that if evidence of pretextual benefits appear flimsy and eminent domain would produce public benefits, such a case shouldn't proceed.
Depending upon how the US Supremem Court should choose to act, Norman Oder explains the procedure and timeline of the possible outcomes in the rest of the article.
Posted by lumi at June 10, 2008 8:05 PM