Pung v. Isabella County · ¶67
“[P]roperty is a natural, fundamental right.” Kelo v. New London, 545 U. S. 469, 510 (2005) (THOMAS, J., dissenting). The “principal aim of society is to protect individuals in the enjoyment of those absolute rights, which were vested in them by the immutable laws of nature,” including the “rights of private property.” 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 120, 135 (1765) (Blackstone). To that end, the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment provides that “private property” shall not “be taken for public use, without just compensation.” “[I]t is ‘imperative that the Court maintain absolute fidelity to’ the [Takings] Clause’s express limit on the power of the government over the individual, no less than with every other liberty expressly enumerated in the Fifth Amendment or the Bill of Rights more generally.’” Kelo, 545 U. S., at 507 (THOMAS, J., dissenting) (quoting Shepard…Read in context ›
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