By Rachel Chiu

At the end of March, the Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari in Bowers v. Oneida County Industrial Development Agency, a case involving a county confiscating a private developer’s land to give it to his business rival.

Bryan Bowers, a local developer, was under contract to purchase land in Utica, New York, and planned to construct a medical office building. A neighboring medical facility asked the Oneida County Industrial Development Agency to take his land so that it could build a parking lot—thereby eliminating its competition. The purported reason for the taking was job creation but, as Bowers argued, “I don’t know how anyone in good conscience can think that a parking lot creates job opportunities.”

The agency condemned the land and allowed Bowers’s competitor to purchase it. In other words, the government disregarded property rights, chose among business rivals, and rewarded the one it favored.

Though unsettling, this practice, known as “eminent domain,” occurs all too often and is legally permissible. Eminent domain is a practice where the government can take private property for........

© Eurasia Review