Today, the Ohio Supreme Court delivered a resounding victory for churches and other houses of worship by ruling unanimously that cities may not use eminent domain powers to take private property if the only purpose is “economic development.” In the appeal, City of Norwood v. Horney, the Court ruled that because property rights were “[b] elieved to be derived fundamentally from a higher authority and natural law” they are “so sacred that they could not be entrusted lightly to ‘the uncertain virtue of those who govern.’” The Court went on to hold that the protection of the right to hold property “is a right inalienable, a right which a written constitution may recognize or declare, but which existed independently of and before such recognition, and which no government can destroy.”
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty had filed an amicus curiae brief with the Court in November, pointing out that religious institutions are especially vulnerable to “economic development” takings because they are categorically tax exempt and municipalities “will always be particularly eager to replace [religious] properties with for-profit, tax- generating businesses.”
“Churches in Ohio can breathe a little easier today knowing that their buildings cannot be taken simply because Costco wants their land,” said Jared N. Leland, Spokesman and Legal Counsel for The Becket Fund. “But religious institutions in many other states are still under fire because the U.S. Supreme Court is not as wise as Ohio’s Supreme Court on the issue. The Becket Fund remains committed to fighting this kind of taking anytime, anywhere, as we have done before by successfully defending churches like the Cottonwood Christian Center in southern California.”

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