Abstract
These are heady times for the champions of private property rights. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Dolan v. City of Tigard, building on the foundation laid in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission and Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council,6 chastised a local government for its apparent failure to demonstrate that the development conditions placed on a commercial landowner were "roughly proportional" to the city's goals of floodplain protection and traffic regulation. Judges sitting on the U.S. Court of Claims ("Claims Court"), a veritable hotbed of regulatory takings activity, have issued a series of opinions resulting in hefty bills for federal defendants. Most intriguingly, the election of Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, impelled in part by public promises by party leaders to live up to the terms of the "Contract with America," has dramatically increased the chances for congressional passage of legislation protecting landowners from the economic effects of a wide range of environmental and land-use regulations. ...
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1995
ISBN
Fordham Environmental Law Journal
Recommended Citation
Michael Allan Wolf, Overtaking the Fifth Amendment: The Legislative Backlash Against Environmentalism, 6 Fordham Envtl. L.J. 637 (1995).
