Kelo v. City of New London, Connecticut
In 1998, the small town of New London, Connecticut saw a dramatic turnaround in its economic fate when pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced its development of a waterfront global research facility in the city's Fort Trumbull area. New London created a development corporation to revitalize the area around the new facility, and granted this entity the power of eminent domain. This power has long enabled governments to condemn–essentially take–private property for "public use," so long as they conform to due process and provide just compensation. In this case, the development corporation filed condemnation proceedings against the petitioners in an attempt to condemn their homes–some of which had been in their families for over a century. This property was to be used to create an office park, a parking lot, and a new park. This case tests the limits of the government's power to take private property for "public use" under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution in circumstances when the "use" is largely commercial.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
What protection does the Fifth Amendment's public use requirement provide for individuals whose property is being condemned, not to eliminate slums or blight, but for the sole purpose of "economic development" that will perhaps increase tax revenues and improve the local economy?
New London, Connecticut is a small historic whaling port comprising six square miles and providing a home to approximately 25,000 residents. See City of New London website at http://ci.new-london.ct.us/index.html (last checked on February 7, 2005).