1srelluc
Diamond Member
nteresting historical tidbit, because of the people involved (Lees and Robert Todd Lincoln) and because the case is one of the most important legal cases in American jurisprudence in limiting sovereign immunity.
Ultimately the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Lee family, as the taking of Arlington was improper. (For a lot of reasons, but it's the sovereign immunity limitation that makes this case an important precedent).
In the 1880's, as Secretary of War, in a signing ceremony Robert Todd Lincoln paid George Washington Custis Lee $150,000 as compensation for the seizure of Arlington from the Lee family.
Google AI summary:
In United States v. Lee (1882), the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the federal government illegally confiscated the Arlington estate from George Washington Custis Lee (son of Robert E. Lee) during the Civil War. The Court ordered the land returned, prompting Lee to sell it back to the government in 1883 for
$150,000.
en.wikipedia.org
Ultimately the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Lee family, as the taking of Arlington was improper. (For a lot of reasons, but it's the sovereign immunity limitation that makes this case an important precedent).
In the 1880's, as Secretary of War, in a signing ceremony Robert Todd Lincoln paid George Washington Custis Lee $150,000 as compensation for the seizure of Arlington from the Lee family.
Google AI summary:
In United States v. Lee (1882), the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the federal government illegally confiscated the Arlington estate from George Washington Custis Lee (son of Robert E. Lee) during the Civil War. The Court ordered the land returned, prompting Lee to sell it back to the government in 1883 for
$150,000.
