The District Leaps on the Kelo Decision (by Matt Singer)

Mayor Anthony Williams of DC is quite pleased that the Kelo decision will allow Washington to displace property owners to build a stadium and a mall, The Washington Post reports. I argued yesterday elsewhere that regardless of the merits of the law and the Constitution, kicking people out of their homes to pursue large businesses is simply poor economic decision-making. My fellow Montana blogger granny insanity (who is, as her name suggests, an absolute ball-of-fire) put it this way, "cities can go to war against the public they have [in order] to attract the public they wished they had."

That summarizes it pretty well and it demonstrates exactly what is wrong with this notion of "economic development." Mayor Williams says he is improving a neighborhood, but he is doing it by getting rid of the people who use the neighborhood.

But this ruling is good news for George W. Bush. It means he didn't violate the Constitution in order to build a stadium for the Texas Rangers.

--Matt Singer