A Line in the Sand: Oral Arguments

Abstract

Not since Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), has there been the level of interest in property rights in the U.S. Supreme Court as there was on December 2, 2009, during the oral arguments in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection et al. The case focuses on whether Florida’s Supreme Court effected a so-called “judicial taking” when it upheld the state’s actions to renourish a beach along the Florida Panhandle. More than a dozen organizations filed amicus briefs supporting the beachfront property owners, including the National Association of Home Builders, the Cato Institute, and the Pacific Legal Foundation. On the other side, there were attorneys general from 26 states, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the American Planning Association.