I sent this letter to the editor of the Washington Post today:
DC Mayor Anthony A. Williams recently stated that he will use eminent domain if necessary to clear room for a baseball stadium. The Fifth Amendment clearly states that private property may only be taken for public use. Building a stadium to house a professional baseball team is not a public use. Were the land to be used as a public park, or for a local school, eminent domain might be appropriate. DC should not tax its businesses to pay for a stadium to be used by another business, and its citizens shouldn’t have to give up their homes just because professional baseball doesn’t want to pay a fair market price.
Props to Gabriel for attuning me to this issue (and for hanging out with me this weekend).