Eminent domain, revisited

The right to own private property without reasonable government interference is a cornerstone of American freedom. In fact, the ability to own land without state intrusion has deep roots in the English common law, and, since the Middle Ages, has been a source of security, peace, and economic stability.

So important was the concept of private property to the Founders, the First Continental Congress, in the Declaration of Colonial Rights, said that "[Americans] are entitled to life, liberty, and property, and they have never ceded to any sovereign power . . . a right to dispose of either without their consent." A decade later, this became the basis of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment: "No person shall be deprived of . . . property, without due process of law." This protects citizens from having their property confiscated in the absence of dire circumstances, such as the need to build a military facility in a time of war, and is known as the doctrine of eminent domain.