What’s a busy working mom to do, trying to juggle everything in life while covering the daily onslaught on our freedom and liberty.
A big, important case may be headed to the Supreme Court, yet we’ve heard little about it. The first I heard about it was in this morning’s Wall Street Journal.
Illinois politics seems to be everywhere this year — and now it may be headed to the Supreme Court in the form of a lawsuit brought against the state. The case, which has ties to impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, could have an important impact on the definition of a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment — as well as implications for the state’s power of taxation.
In Empress Casino v. Giannoulias, the question involves the passage of a state law that took money from four riverboat casinos and gave it to five horse-racing tracks to use as purse money, among other things. According to the Illinois Supreme Court, the action cannot be considered a “taking” because it involved the transfer of money from one party to another, not the confiscation of land, as takings law has traditionally been applied. (The casinos are appealing to the U.S. Supremes, who will consider the certiorari petition soon.)
Property is property, however, whether it’s the contents of a bank account, a factory, or a house with a white picket fence. If the Illinois Supreme Court ruling is allowed to stand, it could establish a precedent whereby the government may take money from any successful business to prop up a failing one. That means, in theory, the government could pass a law to take money from the successful dry cleaner on Main Street to subsidize the lousy one around the corner — or from Barnes and Noble to subsidize the corner bookshop.
Broadly levied, wealth redistribution for public purpose has already been ruled Constitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of the income tax. Writ small, as it is in Empress Casino, it’s a tool that might be wielded against unpopular industries and used by politicians to kiss up to favorite constituents. Think revenge of the aldermen.
If this law is allowed to stand Chicago politics will have precedent throughout our nation. I wonder if any so called conservatives, or even moderates, thought of the Supreme Court while casting a vote for Barack Obama.
We have four reliable justices on the Court who will uphold the Constitution. Let’s hope Justice Kennedy is in a Constitutiony mood if this case makes it that far.
Liberty and Law, not “Law and Order”
…”And this is why the next priority of the Obama administration’s “stimulus” fraud — after putting the most corrupt elements of Wall Street in charge of the public purse, and ensuring that the Democratic Party’s esurient constituencies are well-fed — will probably be a “surge” of funding for the “law and order” apparatus, which will probably open up a lucrative new affiliate devoted entirely to the apprehension and punishment of incorrigible political troublemakers.”…
http://www.rightsourceonline.com/
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[...] The Lonely Conservative placed an observative post today on So Much Tyranny, So Little TimeHere’s a quick excerptWhat’s a busy working mom to do, trying to juggle everything in life while covering the daily onslaught on our freedom and liberty. A big, important case may be headed to the Supreme Court, yet we’ve heard little about it. The first I heard about it was in this morning’s Wall Street Journal . Illinois politics seems to be everywhere this year — and now it may be headed to the Supreme Court in the form of a lawsuit brought against the state. The case, which has ties to impeached Illinois Go [...]
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