Two important anniversaries happen today: the 34th anniversary of Title IX and the 2nd anniversary of the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court case.


In the interest of not repeating myself, I’ll direct you to my Title IX commentary here and here.


As for eminent domain abuse, consider this fact:  In the past year more than 5,700 properties nationwide have been threatened by or taken with eminent domain for private development.  In the five-year period preceding Kelo, the figure was more than 10,000. Eminent domain abuse is on the rise.  That little factoid is on the Castle Coalition website (which is a grassroots activism project of the Institute for Justice, which argued the Kelo case before the U.S. Supreme Court).  IJ released four new publications this week, which I encourage you to check out here.  For people not familiar with the intricacies of eminent domain, I’d recommend starting with Myths and Realities of Eminent Domain Abuse.


To refresh your memory, we are not fans of Kelo decision at IWF.  We released this statement when the ruling came in.  For the hardcore politicos out there, I recommend checking out Justice O’Conner’s dissenting opinion, where she does a great job of outlining this ridiculous rejection of private property rights.