I’d love to see this succeed. A New Hampshire LLC wishes to build a new hotel on the same property which presently holds the home of Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter. Going by Souter’s recent decision regarding the rules of Eminent Domain, it’d be perfectly legal if the local Government decides to evict Souter for private development. Would it happen in reality? Probably not. I’m sure the Men In Black have enough pull to make sure that Souter’s home remains his while the rest of us little worms get to lose ours to the highest bidder.
Why would it fail? The beauty is that one of two things happens:
(a) Souter’s friends keep the investor from ever actually winning in a lower court ruling. He keeps appealing. At some point, either the USSC refuses the appeal (implying that property rights DO exist, throwing the Kelo case into dispute again), or they accept the appeal and are forced to answer on the bench why they’re different?
(b) Souter’s friends try and fail to keep his property from being eminent-domain’ed.
Either way, it’s going to be one hell of a spectacle and fun to watch. 🙂