I'm encouraged to see that President Bush has issued an Executive Order to prevent the federal government from using the eminent domain power to take private property from one party and give it to another.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to strengthen the rights of the American people against the taking of their private property, it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to protect the rights of Americans to their private property, including by limiting the taking of private property by the Federal Government to situations in which the taking is for public use, with just compensation, and for the purpose of benefiting the general public and not merely for the purpose of advancing the economic interest of private parties to be given ownership or use of the property taken.
It goes on into details, and they look pretty good to my naive understanding.
(HT: The Pirate.)
