MEMO & NEWS
RELEASE
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
H.1700 - Eminent Domain Constitutional Amendment
To:
Members of the Constitutional Convention
May 13, 2009
Re:
H.1700 - Rep. Ross's Eminent Domain
Constitutional Amendment
Citizens for Limited Taxation has filed
this constitutional amendment to begin the
Constitutional Convention process of protecting private
property rights in Massachusetts from the Kelo
Decision. If an issue arises here, in which some
state government body wants to take someone’s home or
business for “economic development,” as has happened in
other states, H.1700 will hopefully be headed for the
ballot, where we are certain it will win with votes from
all parts of the political spectrum.
After the
Kelo Decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, many
states have moved quickly to further protect private
property rights within their borders through their state
constitutions and other legislation. We hope
Massachusetts will finally join those enlightened states
in protecting what the U.S. Constitution once protected
under the Fifth Amendment in the Bill of Rights.
CLT dedicates this proposed state constitutional
amendment to retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David
Souter, who voted with the majority in the 5-4 decision
to take people’s homes by eminent domain if a community
can make more money on a commercial development.
How nice for him that he gets to retire to his own New
Hampshire family homestead that no government body has
stolen.
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