EXCERPT Eminent
domain has been called the despotic power by the U.S. Supreme Court, said Alban. The
Constitution permits the government to use eminent domain to seize property for
public use, such as a road, fire station or public park. Eminent domain abuse
is when the government uses the power of eminent domain to take property from
one private person in order to give it to another.
Eminent
domain abuse often involves a developer or a big box store because they tend to
generate more tax revenue for the government.
This abuse
violates peoples property rights to stay in their
longtime family home or to keep operating their small business or farm for as
long as they please, Alban told us. It also tends to victimize the vulnerable -eminent
domain abuse is frequently used against the poor and politically
disenfranchised on behalf of wealthy developers and corporations.
Civil
forfeiture gives law officers the right to take and keep personal property
based solely on the suspicion of involvement with a crime and requires no legal
charges ever be filed.