Village of Euclid v. Ambler: The Bettman Amicus Brief

Abstract

Editor's Note: Alfred Bettman (1873–1945) is generally credited with saving zoning from constitutional defeat in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926). As the story goes, he drafted the amicus brief on behalf of the National Conference on City Planning and others but then sat on it and missed the deadline for filing the brief. After oral argument, with the Court leaning towards invalidating zoning, Bettman wrote his friend. Chief Justice William Howard Taft, also from Cincinnati, and asked permission to file his amicus brief Permission was granted, and a second oral argument was scheduled the following term. Justice George Sutherland, who was not at the first oral argument, participated the second time and wrote the opinion for the majority finding the zoning scheme in Euclid was constitutional.

Bettman was asked to serve on Herbert Hoovers Blue Ribbon Committee to draft the Standard City Planning and Zoning Enabling Acts (in 1924 and 1928). He also drafted the Tennessee Zoning and Planning Enabling Statutes (1935). Bettman served as the first president of the American Society of Planning Officials (1934–1938), the predecessor to the American Planning Association.

In honor of Alfred Bettman, the importance of his amicus argument, and the 80th anniversary of the Village of Kuclid v. Ambler decision, portions of Bettman s amicus brief are reprinted below.