[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 880 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 880

    Expressing the sense of the House on the occasion of the first 
  anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New 
                                London.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 20, 2006

Mr. Garrett of New Jersey submitted the following resolution; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    Expressing the sense of the House on the occasion of the first 
  anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New 
                                London.

Whereas June 23, 2006 is the first anniversary of the United States Supreme 
        Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London;
Whereas the limitations on Government power contained in the Takings Clause of 
        the Fifth Amendment provide an essential safeguard of the property 
        rights of the people of the United States;
Whereas the majority decision in Kelo granted local governments broad power to 
        take the property of one private party and transfer it to another 
        private party if the local government decided that the transfer would 
        promote economic development;
Whereas the Supreme Court in Kelo once again engaged in the dangerous practice 
        of judicial activism by creating policy, instead of interpreting the 
        Constitution and defending the rights protected by it;
Whereas the Kelo court authorized an expanded power to take private property 
        that is far broader than the power the people intended to grant in the 
        Constitution;
Whereas Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in a dissent joined by three other 
        Justices, suggested that the decision would lead to governments taking 
        from the poor and giving to the rich, saying that ``[a]ny property may 
        now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout 
        from this decision will not be random [because t]he beneficiaries are 
        likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in 
        the political process, including large corporations and development 
        firms'';
Whereas Justice O'Connor effectively argued that the majority opinion in Kelo 
        eliminates ``any distinction between private and public use of 
        property--and thereby effectively [deletes] the words `for public use' 
        from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment'';
Whereas the House of Representatives showed its strong disapproval of the Kelo 
        court's interpretation of the Takings Clause by passing, by a vote of 
        231 to 189, an amendment to the Departments of Transportation, Treasury, 
        and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia, 
        and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (H.R. 
        3058) that prohibited any funding made available under that bill from 
        being used to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United 
        States in the Kelo case; and
Whereas the House of Representatives showed its further support for private 
        property rights in November 2005 by passing the Private Property Rights 
        Protection Act of 2005 (H.R. 4128), which seeks to curb abuse of the 
        Takings Clause by Federal, State, and local Government agencies, with 
        strong bipartisan support and by a vote of 376 to 38: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
    (1) reaffirms its commitment to protecting private property rights 
as the foundation of liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the 
Constitution; and
    (2) reiterates its strong support for the Private Property Rights 
Protection Act of 2005.
                                 <all>