As co-blogger Jonathan Adler points out, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently ruled, in Hall v. Meisner, that the government cannot seize $300,000 in home equity to pay off a $22,000 property tax delinquency. Such "home equity theft" qualifies as a taking and therefore requires payment of "just compensation" under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The ruling was written by prominent conservative Judge Raymond Kethledge, who is sometimes considered a potential Republican Supreme Court nominee.
