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U.S. Supreme Court faces challenge on takings
Three cases coming up this term could create huge potential liability for governments
Would a ban on assault weapons violate the Fifth Amendment's takings clause? Some members of Congress would like to know, according to one legal scholar who has been asked.
The gun-related question is not before the U.S. Supreme Court, at least not yet. But the scope of the takings clause is this term in three cases, the most potentially significant of which comes up for argument on Jan. 15.
In Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, property rights advocates ask the justices to expand two landmark takings decisions from the Rehnquist Court era to the denial of land use permits when the landowner refuses to accept conditions for approval of the permit.
"Unlike the other two cases, this one has application to every property owner in the country," said Paul Beard of the Pacific Legal Foundation, counsel to Coy Koontz Jr. "Anyone who wants to pull a permit to do anything on their property can potentially be affected."
The Koontz case is "going away the most important takings case the Roberts Court will decide," agreed Douglas Kendall, head of the Constitutional Accountability Center, which has drafted an amicus brief supporting the water district on behalf of the city of New York, the American Planning Association and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
U.S. Supreme Court faces challenge on takings