The U.S. Supreme Court. (Courthouse News photo/Jack Rodgers)
WASHINGTON (CN) Justice Clarence Thomas decried the state of Fifth Amendment land-taking precedent in a brief dissent Monday after the Supreme Court refused to hear a Hawaii zoning dispute.
“Our current regulatory takings jurisprudence leaves much to be desired,” the conservative justice wrote, arguing the fight between Hawaii’s Land Use Commission and developer Bridge Aina Le’a LLC would have given the high court the chance to address longstanding vagueness surrounding government taking of land.
The case involves Bridge Aina Le’a’s effort to rezone previously designated agricultural land at the request of the landowner decades ago. During a residential development project, however, the state agency determined the company wasn’t using the land as promised and reverted some of it back to agricultural use.