A California man is seeking to take over the New Hampshire home of US Supreme Court Justice David Souter after he supported a court decision last week that allows local governments to seize the land of citizens for commercial development.
Logan Darrow Clements, the CEO of a small California media company, sent a letter on Monday to the New Hampshire town of Weare to find out the processes that would allow him to build "The Lost Liberty Hotel" on Souter's property.
The 5-4 Supreme Court decision riled property owners last week. While the government had the traditional "eminent domain" power to seize land for "public use" projects, such as highways, schools and railroads, the new decision allows "eminent domain" to be used to take land from one person and give it to another private entity.
These could then use the land to build strip malls, hotels or office buildings.
In his letter, Clements said the decision allows him to try to take over Souter's property.
"The justification for such an eminent domain action is that our hotel will better serve the public interest as it will bring in economic development and higher tax revenue to Weare," he said.
Clements said that he does not have the funds to build the hotel, but hopes that donors will finance the project.
He added that one individual has already pledged to provide US$10,000.
The Lost Liberty Hotel would feature a museum "featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America," a statement from Clements' media company said.
In its decision, the Supreme Court upheld a move by the city of New London, Connecticut, to seize property from homeowners so that private developers could build a five-star hotel, luxury condominiums and office buildings near a research facility of the drug giant Pfizer.
The city justified the action by saying it would increase its tax revenue.
But the dissenting justices, including some of its most conservative members, said that the beneficiaries of the decision will be "citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."
Private-property ownership is a keystone of the US economic system, and Washington has criticized other countries where governments routinely seize land from private owners.
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