Berman et al., Executors, v. Parker et al. (348 U.S. 26)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 22, 1954 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 348 U.S. 26 · 75 S. Ct. 98
- Docket
- No. 22
- Argued
- October 19, 1954
- Decided
- November 22, 1954
- Term
- October Term 1954
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Warren, Justice Black, Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Clark, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Burton, Justice Reed, Justice Minton
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court. This is an appeal (28 U. S. C. § 1253) from the judgment of a three-judge District Court which dismissed a complaint seeking to enjoin the condemnation of appellants’ property under the District of Columbia Redevelopment Act of 1945, 60 Stat. 790, D. C. Code, 1951, §§ 5-701-5-719. The challenge was to the constitutionality of the Act, particularly as applied to the taking of appellants’ property. The District Court sustained the constitutionality of the Act. 117 F. Supp. 705. By § 2 of the Act, Congress made a “legislative determination” that “owing to technological and sociological changes, obsolete lay-out, and other factors, conditions existing in the District of Columbia with respect to substandard housing and blighted areas, including the use of buildings in alleys as dwellings for human habitation, are injurious to the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and it is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to protect and promote the welfare of the inhabitants of the seat of the Government by eliminating all such injurious conditions by employing all means necessary and appropriate for the purpose.” Section 2 goes on to declare that acquisition of property is necessary to eliminate these housing conditions. . Congress further finds in § 2 that these ends cannot be attained “by the ordinary…
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