Property Rights "Takings": Justice O'Connor's Opinions (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Aug. 19, 2005 |
| Report Number |
RS22227 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Robert Meltz, American Law Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
When Justice O'Connor ascended to the Supreme Court, expectations were that she
would adhere
to the conservative line and generally uphold the property rights position over the
government's in
Fifth Amendment "takings" cases. This did not happen. Instead, in this area as well
as others, she
established her place at the Court's ideological center. To be sure, Justice O'Connor
made many
arguments favoring property owners, in both her opinions and her concurrences and dissents. But
this asserted empathy for the property owner did not translate into espousal of bold doctrinal shifts
in takings law. Rather she preferred an ad hoc case-by-case approach, as embodied in the Penn
Central test for regulatory takings, whose current dominance she helped to establish. The
remainder
of the report reviews her takings-related writings for the Court.
