Susette Kelo Vs. City Of New London Milestone Sup

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The supreme court case Kelo v. City of New London Connecticut was argued and decided by the supreme court in 2005. This is one of the most recent supreme court rulings that has directly affected my community. The case directly deals with the taking of private property in order to benefit the community in multiple ways, this is also called eminent domain. The citizens who were involved were 15 families who decided to not accept the pharmaceutical company's offer to buy their land and house. The company had already gotten the other 100 families to accept the offer to buy their property. The city claimed their right of eminent domain on the remaining 15 families and ceased their properties. This action was the beginning of the court battles which eventually lead all the way up to the Supreme court hearing the case and deciding in favor of the City of New London, Connecticut. The main reason Pfizer was behind the whole issue was because “In 1998, the drug company Pfizer built a new plant in New London, Connecticut.” (Head) The pharmaceutical company thought with the additional business their plant might bring to the city that they'd be able to take the housing land and turn it into a commercial development property and sell it to other commercial developers to bring about more jobs, tax revenues, and businesses to the community in hopes of reviving the struggling city. Susette Kelo is the main proponent of the supreme court case, arguing on behalf of the home owners. “Kelo, a nurse, was paid $442,000 by the state for her old property”(Tucker) Although $442,000 sounds like a lot of money it doesn't come close to replacing the home she lost. The home she lived in was a century old pink house that she called her own. This is why she dragged on the case. She didn’t feel it was right for a government agency to be able to take multiple families home's to replace them

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