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Brief Urges Ohio Supreme Court to Limit Seizure of Churches
On November 9, 2005, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a brief amicus curiae before the Ohio Supreme Court to combat the City of Norwood’s effort to abuse its eminent domain powers. The City’s proposed redevelopment plan would transfer title to land from private property owners to private land developers in the name of economic development. This rationale for takings, The Becket Fund argues, poses special risks for religious institutions, because they are categorically tax exempt.
As the brief notes, “the City is seizing and destroying the homes in order to transfer land to private parties who have promised to develop commercial office space and stores to generate tax revenue . . . . To affirm this broad expansion of eminent domain power is to grant municipalities a special license to invade the autonomy, and take the property, of religious institutions.”
Because houses of worship and other religious institutions are always tax exempt, municipalities that desire to economically develop a community through urban renewal efforts, for instance, “will always be particularly eager to replace [religious] properties with for-profit, tax-generating businesses,” the brief argues.
“The City’s proposed redevelopment plan is an unequivocal affront to private land ownership and the very existence of religious institutions,” stated Jared N. Leland, Spokesman and Legal Counsel for The Becket Fund. “If the Ohio Supreme Court adopts the City’s interpretation of the Fifth Amendment, a house of worship could be seized in favor of a house of pancakes anywhere in the Buckeye state,” Leland explained.
Resources & Documents
- November 9, 2005 Amicus Brief (PDF, 4KB)