Judicial abdication allows homes and livelihoods to be destroyed and voices to be censored, and it deprives the victims of government abuse of a meaningful recourse.

Susette Kelo (Kelo v. City of New London (2005)): The city of New London authorized the New London Development Corporation to seize land belonging to Susette Kelo and her neighbors and turn it over to a private developer to build a luxury hotel, high-end residences and office space for Pfizer employees, clients and contractors… (read on)

Tina Bennis (Bennis v. Michigan (1996)): Tina Bennis and her husband John split the cost of a $600 Pontiac. John, without Tina’s knowledge, used the Pontiac to solicit prostitutes and was arrested for gross indecency. Simultaneous with the criminal charges against John, the county prosecutor sought to forfeit Tina’s share of the car… (read on)

Fred Korematsu (Korematsu v. United States (1944)): Three months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Congress formally declared war on Japan, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order giving certain military commanders broad discretion to exclude people from areas of military significance… (read on)

Roscoe Filburn (Wickard v. Filburn (1942)): Roscoe Filburn, like many a farmer before him, grew wheat for consumption on his own farm. In so doing, he ran afoul of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which limited the amount of wheat that farmers could grow on their own land… (read on)

Carrie Buck (Buck v. Bell (1927)): Carrie Buck, a teenager from Virginia, was committed to a state institution after becoming pregnant. The medical authorities sought to sterilize her on the grounds that she, together with her mother and her daughter, were “feeble minded”…(read on)

Other Stories of Judicial Abdication: