Uncategorized « Disasters, Property, and Politics

A couple of years ago, I was working on a series about regulatory takings cases… Then I started my job at Southeast, and my time was taken up with other work. I’m back at it, though, and so I’ll be revisiting a few of the old posts as I work on my some new ones. Happily, this is coinciding with lecturing on these topics in my undergraduate constitutional law class — always a favorite time of my semester! So, from 2014:

Disasters, Property, and Politics

Why, precisely, did I have so much trouble with takings cases, particularly regulatory takings all those years ago? Why do I still heave a heavy sigh whenever I am faced with a new one? Well, back in the 1980s, when property movements were really getting their litigative feet under them, Carol Rose of Yale Law School wrote a wonderful essay titled, “Mahon Reconstructed: Why the Takings Issue is Still a Muddle.” (52 S. Cal. L. rev. 561, 1983-1984). Indeed, after I read this essay I ended up reading a lot of Professor Rose’s work. This essay, and one of her books in particular, Property and Persuasion: Essays on the History, Theory, and Rhetoric of Ownership shaped my thinking about takings quite a lot (Westview Press, 1994 — it’s out of print now, but if you can find a used copy, I recommend it!).

Since I am not…

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Happy December dear readers!

After an incredibly busy fall that has been filled with blogging silence because other work was the priority, I’m back — just in time to draw attention to the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. There’s a twitter feed for the conference which you can see at the hashtag #COP21 or follow @COP21. The link above also takes you to their digital news hub for the conference — there’s several interesting articles there, as well as updates on the conference as it progresses.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the press around COP21 while traveling and working the last few weeks. One of the stories that caught my eye today was in today’s on-line The New York Times. In Marshall Islands and Sea Level Rise, Coral Davenport and photographer Josh Haner present an interesting discussion and analysis of the effects of sea level rise on the Marshall Islands. This is an issue in emergency management and disaster response that has been on my mind for years, particularly after living in Rhode Island and studying Palazzolo v. Rhode Island and other takings case that involved coastal zone management. The photography and videos that Josh Haner made for this particular story are compelling visual arguments for why sea level rise needs to be a focus in policy discussions concerning future emergency preparedness. However, this isn’t simply an issue for disasters that occur during a particular event — the article demonstrates that sea level rise is having a devastating impact on the daily lives of those living near coasts and on islands. It’s worth taking a look and reading the article because it provides an account of how this global process is creating daily difficulties for many people.

With the end of the academic semester and the completion of a couple of projects comes time to do some other writing. Watch for upcoming blog entries on property rights, earthquakes and international disaster recovery issues over the next few weeks!