This is a Cato special podcast. I'm Caleb Brown.

Susette Kilo learned in 2005 that the Fifth Amendment ultimately would not protect her home for being seized by a local government in the name of

nothing more than tax revenue. That revenue has never materialized. The

Supreme Court ruled in Kilo v. City of New London, Connecticut, that private property can be taken

for nothing more than increasing tax revenue. The court used a decidedly tortured

definition of public use to arrive at the controversial 5-4 decision.

Helo spoke at the Cato Institute January 27, 2009 at a forum for the book Little

Pink House which tells her story. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Suzanne Kilo and the government stole my home.

First, the municipal government of my hometown New London, Connecticut stolen.

Then the state of Connecticut said it was legal for them to take it.

Finally, the federal government said it was constitutional to steal not only my home but the homes of all my neighbors and in

in fact anyone's home for the purpose of economic development.

Basically what that means, if someone who can add more to the grand list of your town or city than you and

your property can be made history.

Even though 40 states have passed legislation offering some protection for home and business owners

don't think your property is safe because it is not.

Over 10 years ago, I was lucky enough to find a great deal on a house with a terrific view of the Thames River, the Long Island Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean, in New London, Connecticut.

I spent every spare moment fixing it up and making it the

kind of home I had always dreamed of. I'm sure you've heard the expression, location,

location, location.

Well this was the wrong location, only I didn't know it yet.

Until I picked up the paper one morning in 1998 and discovered that Pfizer Pharmaceutical was coming to town.

...