Professor Somin Co-Authors Amicus To Scotus In Property Rights Case, Pens USA Today Op-Ed On Travel Ban Decision

Professor Ilya Somin is among the six co-authors of an amicus brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court supporting the land owner in the Knick v. Township of Scott property rights case. In reviewing Knick,the Court is considering whether to overrule Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, a 1985 decision that makes it very difficult or impossible to bring takings cases in federal court. Under Williamson County, a property owner who contends that the government has taken his property and therefore owes “just compensation” under the Fifth Amendment, cannot file a case in federal court until he or she has first gotten a “final decision" from the appropriate state or local regulatory agency and has “exhausted” all possible remedies in state court. The amici argue that Williamson County has relegated the right to receive “just compensation” for the taking of one’s property to the status of an unprotected right.

Also this month, Professor Somin wrote an Op-Ed for USA Today, where he asserts that the Supreme Court's decision on the president's travel ban “eviscerated the First Amendment.”