Since the founding era, the Supreme Court has referred to the government’s power of eminent domain—the power to take private property from its rightful owner—as the “despotic power.” While this power can be used for good, to build public roads and other necessary public infrastructure, it is also easily abused. That’s why the Constitution forbids its exercise except for a public use, with payment of just compensation, and with due process.
A few weeks ago, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a federal agency that oversees permitting for energy projects like interstate pipelines, has fallen short of this commitment. Instead of a fair process for landowners to assert their property rights, the agency created a bureaucratic roadblock delaying consideration of landowners’ rights until it was too late.
This issue has arisen because of increased pipeline construction in response…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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