Rundown on Kelo here, here, and here.
And here.
Of course, IANAL. But when I think about the whole situation, I think about a roleplaying game, Dark Conspiracy. [kinda old, I can't find a current publisher's webpage].
In Dark Conspiracy, it's a near future Earth, and all sorts of horrible things have happened. Ecological nightmares, another great depression, megacorps have the real political power, and vampires, werewolves, and aliens haunt the streets and the boardrooms. Not a fun place to be.
One change from the real world is that at some point, it became legal for a citizen to sell his or her vote to a corporation, so the corps provide "welfare", more or less [mostly less] in exchange for the votes. So the corps can elect whoever they want, and get pretty much any law passed they want.
Now, the rules specifically state that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are in force, so even if an outlandish law is passed, it will be ruled unconstitutional by the court system.
So, congratulations, SCOTUS. You've managed to give more power to the government than was considered possible in the worst dystopian RPGs of 10-15 years ago.
Posted by Owlish at June 23, 2005 02:15 PM