Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
New case: Officials in James Island, S.C. say they are using eminent domain to take IJ-client Kyle Taylor's property to build a park. But it's a ruse! The land is ill-suited to be a park; that's just something the town made up after caving to NIMBYs who don't want anything built. Indeed, Kyle's plans are fully compliant with the zoning, and he's spent years jumping through every hoop the planning commission threw at him. The taking is pretextual, which the Fifth Amendment forbids. Boo hiss.
New on the Bound By Oath podcast: The Fifth Amendment says that the gov't must pay just compensation when it takes private property, a command that, regrettably, is often treated as a mere suggestion. On this episode, we take a look at a variety of gambits and flim-flammeries that let the gov't take property without paying for it.
