"Somin's thorough rebuttal of the constitutional reasoning and philosophical implications of the Supreme Court's Kelo decision demonstrates why that ruling was a constructive disaster: It was so dreadful it has provoked robust defenses of the role of private property in sustaining Americans' liberty."
(George F. Will, journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner)“By dint of his uncommon thoroughness, Ilya Somin has become the leading and most persuasive critic of the Supreme Court’s ill-fated 2005 Kelo decision. His close examination of the case’s factual backdrop offers chilling confirmation of his central thesis: weak constitutional protection of property rights opens the door to political intrigue that exacts its greatest toll on the poor and vulnerable in society. Somin’s gripping account of the Grasping Hand confirms your worst fears about big government.”
(Richard A. Epstein, NYU School of Law, author of Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain)
"Mr. Somin… provides a fine tour of the case and of the intellectual history of eminent-domain law. More important, he provides a framework for thinking about the future of eminent domain and private property… Somin has written an important book that maps the road ahead for those who believe that individual freedom cannot be separated from the protection of private property."
(Edward Glaeser, Harvard University,
Wall Street Journal)
“The Grasping Hand is likely to be the definitive analysis of the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in the Kelo case. But Somin attends to much more than that. He sets out the political and doctrinal history that led up to Kelo and critiques the legislative and judicial developments provoked by the reaction to it. Somin has long been a champion of strong property rights. What he has to say will be of value to those who share that commitment and perhaps even more to those who don’t.”
(James E. Krier, University of Michigan Law School)
"Ilya Somin is one of the world's leading scholars on property rights...[and] his legal analysis of... eminent domain and the
Kelo decision is extremely thorough and insightful. But
The Grasping Hand has something more than just solid legal history and reasoning..... [U]nlike virtually all other scholarly works on eminent domain, [it] compellingly communicates the human... cost of governments teaming up with private interests to take the homes, small businesses, and other property of Americans."
(Dana Berliner & Scott Bullock, co-counsel for the homeowners in
Kelo v. City of New London)
"For anyone interested in the
Kelo case, I recommend Somin’s book. It is the first book-length discussion of the
Kelo appellate proceedings by a legal scholar. It is also by far the most exhaustively researched history of the public use doctrine in the state and federal courts before and since
Kelo. While I do not share his opposition to the
Kelo decision, I welcome his good scholarship on the subject."
(Wesley Horton, counsel for the City of New London in the US Supreme Court phase of the Kelo case)
"In this carefully researched and convincingly argued volume, Ilya Somin provides a powerful critique of the Supreme Court’s “public use” jurisprudence and the controversial Kelo decision. He also gives careful attention to the hostile public reaction to the ruling, and points out that much of the post-Kelo reform legislation is inadequate to prevent future eminent domain abuse. This insightful book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in the place of property rights in constitutional law."
(James W. Ely, Jr., Vanderbilt Law School, author of
The Guardian of Every Other Right: A Constitutional History of Property Rights)
"[A] key contribution to the literature on property rights. I dare say that this is the most important book on eminent domain since Richard Eptsein’s classic, Takings... [Somin's] voice is the voice of reason, precisely the kind of scholarship that is sorely needed in our polarized society. And this book is, today, the leading authority on Kelo."
(Fernando Teson, Florida State University College of Law)
"It's a book that is both scholarly and readable, and filled with details, history, and perspective. You can't do better than this."
-(Robert H. Thomas, Owners Counsel of America, Chair, American Bar Association Committee on Eminent Domain)
"The book provides a very well-written review of the background of the case, a close legal analysis of the relevant case law leading up to it, a detailed review of the legislative and judicial responses to the decision, and a discussion of possible safeguards against excessive use of eminent domain.... The book clearly advances a particular view of the case—namely, that it was decided in error—but it nevertheless provides a thorough and evenhanded review of the various perspectives on the public use issue." -(Thomas Miceli, Public Choice, author of The Economic Theory of Eminent Domain: Private Property, Public Use)
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