[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             EMINENT DOMAIN

  (Ms. PRYCE of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, as a former judge and now a Member of 
Congress, I rise today to protest the attack on individual private 
property rights contained in the recent Supreme Court decision Kelo v. 
City of New London.
  Following the Court's logic, nothing can stop a local government from 
replacing a church with a Wal-Mart, or a family farm with a shopping 
mall, because these will produce greater tax revenues for the 
government in charge.
  Private property ownership is vital to both our freedom and our 
prosperity. The Kelo decision now puts every home and every business 
owner on notice that their property may be taken by the government at 
any time.
  This is not the American way, Mr. Speaker. The Court's decision is an 
abdication of its responsibility to protect individual property rights, 
and it is a gross misinterpretation of the Constitution.
  As we approach our Nation's Day of Independence, we should be 
concerned about protecting our freedoms, not curtailing them. A just 
and wise government values individual ownership and protects it.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day. Our Nation is built on many, many 
important tenets, and protection of private property is certainly not 
the least of them.

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