The Supreme Court Seized Her Home for a Project That Was Never Built

Susette Kelo bought a small pink cottage in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood of New London, Connecticut. She renovated it herself. She loved the view of the water.

In 1998, the city told her they were taking it.

The Plan

New London was struggling economically. Pfizer had announced plans to build a major research facility nearby, and the city saw an opportunity: condemn the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, hand the land to a private developer, and build a hotel, conference center, and upscale housing to complement the Pfizer campus.

Kelo and several neighbors refused to sell. The city invoked eminent domain, the government's power to seize private property for "public use" with compensation.

The Supreme Court

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision in 2005, the Court ruled that "economic development" qualified as "public use" under the Fifth Amendment. The city could take Kelo's home and give it to a private company.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor dissented: "Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory."

What Happened Next

The city spent $78 million acquiring and demolishing the neighborhood. Then Pfizer's tax breaks expired and the company left town, moving its operations to Groton. The private developer could not secure financing. The project collapsed.

More than 20 years after the Supreme Court ruled that Susette Kelo's home could be seized for economic development, the land where her house stood remains an empty lot. The only economic development was for the demolition company.