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Institute for Justice updates
Just Compensation
Innocent Woman Whose Home Was Destroyed by SWAT Team Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Case Seeking Compensation
In 2020, a SWAT team in pursuit of a fugitive destroyed Vicki Baker's Texas home. The Constitution requires that the government pay when it destroys private property for public benefit, but when Vicki sued, she ran into a wall—a court-created exception for exercises of police powers. So, Vicki and IJ are asking the high court to make clear that there's no policing exception for the Constitution's Takings Clause.
When IJ launches a new case, we promise to stand by our clients no matter how long their cases take. But sometimes, all it takes to help a would-be client is a letter from an attorney. That was the case for a home cook in Virginia and a small-business owner in Hawaii.
Louisiana Supreme Court Rules Property Owners Entitled to Just Compensation
Followers of IJ's recent DeVillier case in Texas may remember hearing that neighboring Louisiana took the position that it couldn't be forced to pay compensation when it destroyed people's property, instead paying only if it wanted to. That's no longer the case after a new state supreme court ruling, in which IJ filed a friend of the court brief.
Beyond the Brief: FBI Commits the Largest Armed Robbery in American History
In March 2021, people entered a private security-deposit box company, broke open hundreds of boxes, and indiscriminately seized their contents – collectively worth over one hundred million dollars. But the people who took their property weren’t mobsters; they were FBI agents.
This episode highlights some recent cases that reflect the heritage of 1776 and also Anglo-American relations of the present day. And, breaking our usual mold, we start with a case from the Supreme Court: SEC v. Jarkesy.
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