A new vote for property rights?
The Supreme Court refused on Monday, amid a flurry of orders, to reopen the heated controversy over the power of government to seize private property for a new economic development project, but owners of property appeared to have picked up a potential new ally on the Court. Justice Samual A. Alito, Jr., was the only member of the Court to note that he would have granted review of a significant Second Circuit Court ruling on property rights in the face of a massive new project in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
The Court as a whole turned down an appeal by a group of homeowners and business operators who are likely to lose their property to the 22-acre development near the rail yards for the Long Island Railroad. That development, planned by a group headed by developer Bruce Ratner, is the Atlantic Yards Arena and Development Project; it will provide a new home for the New Jersey Nets professional basketball team (which Ratner owns), plus 16 high-rise office and aprtment towers, and a 180-room hotel. The failed appeal by property owners involves about 20 percent of the development site. (Their appeal to the Supreme Court came in Goldstein, et al., v. Pataki, et al., 07-1247).
Because the Court simply denied review of the Second Circuit decision, it set no new precedent. But the case had been closely watched for the Court’s reaction to the one of the first significant sequels to arise in the controversy that spread rapidly across the country following its much-disputed 2005 ruling in Kelo v. New London, allowing private property to be taken for economic redevelopment by private organizations. Justice Alito was not on the Court for Kelo; his predecessor, now-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, wrote the main dissent. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also dissented; they did not reveal their votes Monday in the Goldstein case. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., also not on the Court for Kelo, did not reveal his vote Monday (his predecesssor, the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, dissented in rhe 2005 decision).
Meanwhile, the Court on Monday added seven new cases to its decision docket for the new Term that opens on Monday, Oct. 6.
One of the most highly visible cases was an appeal by U.S. Navy leaders, asking the Justices to strike down a federal judge’s order that would require the Navy to take steps to protect whales off the coast of California by strictly limiting its use of submarine-detecting sonar transmissions during training exercises. The judge’s order has been put on hold pending the Navy’s appeal in Winter (Navy Secretary), et al., v. Natural Resources Defense Council, et al. (07-1239).
