Social Education (Jan-Feb 2024)
The American Bar Association asked True North Law partner Steve Davis to write a “Lessons on the Law” article for Social Education, the flagship, peer-reviewed journal of the National Council for the Social Studies. Steve’s article, available here, appears in the January/February 2024 edition of Social Education.
Steve explains the rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and focuses on its critically-important (but lesser-known and appreciated) right to compensation when the government takes its citizens’ private property for public use. The article offers a primer on eminent domain history and abuse, from the application of the Takings Clause to the states to the Kelo decision. Steve goes on to present current, real-life issues before the Supreme Court that affect every-day Americans and explains their background and importance.
The article concludes, “the Fifth Amendment’s essential constraints on the government’s extraordinary and easily-abused power of eminent domain remains as important today as it has over centuries—truly a fundamental piece of our understanding about the rule of law.”
Social Education is published by the National Council for the Social Studies, which “is the largest professional association in the country devoted solely to social studies education,” according to its website. “NCSS serves as an umbrella organization for elementary, secondary, and college teachers of history, civics, geography, economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and law-related education.”
