Justices, 5-4, Back Seizure of Property for Development - New York Times

Justices, 5-4, Back Seizure of Property for Development - New York Times: "In a bitter dissent, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said the majority had created an ominous precedent. 'The specter of condemnation hangs over all property,' she wrote. 'Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory.'

'Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private property, but the fallout from this decision will not be random,' she wrote. 'The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.

'As for the victims,' Justice O'Connor went on, 'the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result.'"