Private Property Rights and Government's Overreach

Private Property has been a focal point of the founding father since our countries inception. The right to private property has been a cornerstone of our constitutional freedom. This right limits the government’s interference to a private citizen’s property. This cornerstone serves as the foundation for the fifth amendment to our United States Constitution, which states, “No person shall be deprived of… property, without due process of law.” This amendment has been dubbed the “Taking Clause” that protects citizens from unreasonable government confiscation of private property.

The government has continued to use the Taking Clause as a loop hole to confiscate private property and not how the founders intended. The practice of taking private property without the owner’s consent is called “eminent domain” has been occurring since our country’s early days under the guise of public good such as building a fort during a time of war.

More recently and more frequently the government has undermined the protections afforded in the Taking Clause by seizing private property for “public use’ and not for “public good”. The Supreme Court has been

City of Las Vegas Downtown Redevelopment Agency also dealt with eminent domain. The city of Las Vegas used eminent domain to seize the Pappa’s 7000 sq ft property to be used for the Fremont Street Experience parking garage. The family, most notably Carol Pappas fought the city, taking their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which it declined to hear. Ultimately the city paid the Pappas family 4.5 million dollars to sell. The interesting part of the story, is that Pappa’s family were Greek immigrants that suffered through WWII and the German occupation before moving to the United States and creating a life for themselves. She has stated that the Germans had stolen their property with the point of a bayonet in Greece, While the United States government stole with white