Chief Justice John Roberts has taken some lumps for certain decisions he has issued during his tenure on the Supreme Court , but he has again led the way in protecting the rights of property owners from a government often all too eager to take them away.
Roberts wrote the unanimous opinion in Tyler v. Hennepin County , holding that local governments violate the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause when they seize property to satisfy a tax debt and then keep the excess value.
The takings clause provides that “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.” This provision requires two things: that a government taking of private property be for a “public use,” and that the property owner be justly compensated.
This protection is a reaction to the historical right of sovereigns to seize property from their subjects. The Fifth Amendment prohibits such outright theft, balancing the government’s authority to take property with the citizen’s right to own it.
Governments routinely take property from citizens for reasons such as building public works and roads, and “just compensation” is often understood to be based on fair market value. Some localities, however, take property for more insidious purposes. They identify homeowners who owe property tax, seize their home, and then sell it to satisfy the amount owed while keeping the rest of the value for the local coffers.