edf40wrjww2CF_PaperMaster:Desc
FACTS:
Case: Kelo v. City of New London 545 U.S. 469 (2005)
Decided: June 23, 2005
Vote: 5 (Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer)
4 (Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Thomas)
Opinion of the Court: Stevens
Concurring Opinion: Kennedy
Dissenting Opinion: O'Connor (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas)
Dissenting Opinion: Thomas
(Jost 2005)
BACKGROUND:
The City of New London is located on Long Island Sound at the mouth of the Thames River. It was founded by John Winthrop along with other settlers from the Massachusetts Colony over 350 years ago. It is the second smallest municipality in the State of Connecticut and was at one time a center for the whaling industry. With the depletion of whale stocks the town turned to manufacturing. Prior to Kelo, its greatest claim to fame, if that at all, was the fact that Benedict Arnold had it burned downed by his troops in 1781 (Levenstam 2004).
As is the case with many other New England cities New London has struggled economically in recent years.
“According to the 2000 census, median household income in New London was $33,809, 20 percent below the national average. New London’s unemployment rate, at 7.6 percent, is nearly double that of the State of Connecticut as a whole. As jobs have left New London, people have left with them. From a high of 34,182 in 1960, the population of New London fell to less than 24, ...