Time to Make Lemonade from the Lemons of the Kelo Case Commentary Essays

The decision in Kelo v. New London only addressed the constitutionality of the eminent domain process used to take Susette Kelo’s home. Given the four corners of the case as presented to the Court, there was no consideration of alternatives to eminent domain and of the equity issues inherent in eminent domain. In responding to the essay by Horton and Levesque the author looks to ways to enable development and redevelopment through means less coercive than eminent domain and more respectful of private property rights and the unique and personal situations of those whose properties are targeted. The author, noting the almost unbridled power of government in eminent domain takings and the relative weakness of condemnees, offers suggestions to improve equity and to allocate the true costs of direct takings. This Essay serves as a roadmap for reform

Indelible Public Interests in Property: The Public Trust and the Public Forum

In response to the ongoing debate over how much of the surface real estate reclaimed by the Big Dig should be devoted to open space, and how much to other uses, this Article examines two legal doctrines that are frequently implicated by plans for changes in use and disposition of publicly-owned property. While these doctrines stand on distinct historical and theoretical foundations and diverge from each other in many respects, there are important parallels between them in how they conceptualize the relationship between government’s power to regulate, control, and dispose of land it owns, and the rights belonging to what one scholar has called the “unorganized public” in that same property. On a more pragmatic level, commonality between these two doctrines arises from their applicability to the same physical spaces and their concern with the same types of governmental actions. Therefore, while both the courts and the academy have largely examined these doctrines separately, this Article employs a comparative analysis to better understand the relationship between government and the “unorganized public” with respect to publicly-owned property, and to more fully appreciate the limitations on the use of currently and formerly publicly-owned lands

Recognizing a SLAPP Suit and Understanding Its Consequences

A pesky environmental group is constantly hampering your development plans. The group is fiercely opposed to your project and has attempted to thwart your efforts. On many occasions, the group has expressed its concerns to the local zoning authority. It challenges every permit you seek and went so far as to submit scathing editorials to the local paper. These efforts have delayed your project, cost you serious money, and are making your life miserable. You believe that the group's concerns are mostly unfounded, and you are convinced it has given inaccurate information about the environmental impacts. If you could make this mob disappear, you are certain that the project would proceed without further delay. You are now considering taking the group to court, and a local lawyer is eager to file a multi-million dollar lawsuit for you. The opposition group has limited resources, and you think the threat of costly and protracted litigation will make the group abandon its tactics. Will filing a lawsuit be the answer to your problems, or will it result in even greater difficulties? This article will help a developer in this situation answer the question

A large genome-wide association study of age-related macular degeneration highlights contributions of rare and common variants.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.3448Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, with limited therapeutic options. Here we report on a study of >12 million variants, including 163,714 directly genotyped, mostly rare, protein-altering variants. Analyzing 16,144 patients and 17,832 controls, we identify 52 independently associated common and rare variants (P < 5 × 10(-8)) distributed across 34 loci. Although wet and dry AMD subtypes exhibit predominantly shared genetics, we identify the first genetic association signal specific to wet AMD, near MMP9 (difference P value = 4.1 × 10(-10)). Very rare coding variants (frequency <0.1%) in CFH, CFI and TIMP3 suggest causal roles for these genes, as does a splice variant in SLC16A8. Our results support the hypothesis that rare coding variants can pinpoint causal genes within known genetic loci and illustrate that applying the approach systematically to detect new loci requires extremely large sample sizes.We thank all participants of all the studies included for enabling this research by their participation in these studies. Computer resources for this project have been provided by the high-performance computing centers of the University of Michigan and the University of Regensburg. Group-specific acknowledgments can be found in the Supplementary Note. The Center for Inherited Diseases Research (CIDR) Program contract number is HHSN268201200008I. This and the main consortium work were predominantly funded by 1X01HG006934-01 to G.R.A. and R01 EY022310 to J.L.H

Affordable Housing: Three Roadblocks to Regulatory Reform

This article focuses on techniques, initiatives, and regulatory reforms that may help improve affordability in housing, and thereby serve the need for economic, social, and racial equity. It focuses especially on three impediments standing in the way of affordability: the myth of Home Rule, limitations of the Fair Housing Act, and the pervasive use of private covenants and restrictions. Those roadblocks deserve the closest attention and concerted action and must be knocked down, once and for all, to get the housing we so desperately need