The Fifth Amendment says that the government must pay just compensation when it takes private property for public use, a command that, regrettably, is often treated as a mere suggestion. On this episode, we take a look at a variety of gambits and flim-flammeries that let the government take property without paying for it.

Click here for episode transcript.

Agins v. Tiburon

First English v. County of Los Angeles

Recent Episodes

Younger abstention | Season 4, Ep. 4

In 1966, Los Angeles officials tried to put a man in prison for handing out leaflets in protest of a fatal police shooting. Today, we […]

Listen Now

Needless Friction. And Treason.

On this episode: the story of Pullman abstention, the first of several abstention doctrines the Supreme Court invented to let federal judges decline to decide […]

Listen Now