History of Eminent Domain from the US Department of Justice

As a reminder that it’s really just your bad local governments that use eminent domain, the Department of Justice has put up a series of delightful photos detailing the history of eminent domain use by the federal government.

The History lesson:

• “whenever the United States acquires a property through eminent domain, it has a constitutional responsibility to justly compensate the property owner for the fair market value of the property.  See Bauman v. Ross, 167 U.S. 548 (1897); Kirby Forest Industries, Inc. v. United States, 467 U.S. 1, 9-10 (1984).”
• The Federal government does nice things with eminent domain:facilitate transportation, supply water, construct public buildings, aid in defense readiness, construct of public buildings and aqueducts to provide cities with drinking water, maintain navigable waters, production of war materials, and build pretty things like parks and the Gettysburg Railway.

Justice.Gov