Build On This!

In the first national election since the Supreme Court’s Kelo v. City of New London decision, dismay with the decision registered in some ballot boxes. The Court in Kelo ruled that promoting economic development as part of a comprehensive plan was a valid “public use” under the Fifth Amendment, and a government may use its eminent domain power to promote such development. The Washington Times reports that voters in the following nine states bypassed their respective state legislatures and enacted measures to limit the scope of the decision: Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Michigan, North Dakota, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada. Voters in California, Washington, and Idaho, however, rejected such measures.

The Plain Dealer reports that the Ohio Supreme Court has overturned a Cleveland law aimed at curbing predatory lending. The Court found that the law was unconstitutional because it prohibited loans that would be permitted by Ohio law in other cities. The state has its own, less restrictive, lending regulations.