An Insider's Look At The New Property Rights

This Wall Street Journal article is written by Harold Johnson, the attorney who represented Mr. Palazzolo before the U.S. Supreme Court in his challenge to land use regulations placed on his property: "... in perhaps the most important part of its ruling. Justice Kennedy made it clear that there is a right to challenge land-use regulations even if they were on the books when the property was purchased. "Were we to accept [the on notice rule]," he wrote, "the postenactment transfer of title would absolve the State of its obligation to defend any action restricting land use, no matter how extreme or unreasonable. A State would be allowed, in effect, to put an expiration date on the Takings Clause."