Berman v. Parker
Decision
Decision
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The Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of the Planning Commission by arguing that the problem of large\-scale blight needed to be addressed by a large\-scale integrated redevelopment plan. Justice Douglas wrote, "If owner after owner were permitted to resist these redevelopment programs on the ground that his particular property was not being used against the public interest, integrated plans for redevelopment would suffer greatly."

As the Planning Commission had made detailed plans and taken extensive surveys of the area in question, the Supreme Court argued for [judicial restraint](/wiki/Judicial_restraint "Judicial restraint"). Douglas wrote, "In the present case, the Congress and its authorized agencies have made determinations that take into account a wide variety of values. It is not for us to reappraise them."

The Court stated that the Fifth Amendment had nothing to prohibit those who govern the District of Columbia from deciding that the Capital should be "beautiful as well as sanitary."

As the object of cleaning up the area was said to be within Congress's authority, the Court found a clear right to use eminent domain to accomplish the object.

Douglas addressed the issue presented by the landowners of "a taking from one businessman for the benefit of another businessman" by saying that a legitimate public purpose had been established by the Congress in creating the entire redevelopment plan: the purpose of the taking was to eliminate slums on an area\-wide basis. Specific parcels of land may have been unblighted, but the Court found that their taking was necessary for the functioning of the redevelopment plan as a whole.

Justice Douglas expanded the definition of "public use" to include "public purpose" based on physical, aesthetic, and monetary benefits; he stated that the purpose of the redevelopment plan was to address the broader blight issues in the area to prevent the neighborhood from reverting to the blighted conditions.

The Court ultimately declined to address the specifics of the plan: "Once the question of the public purpose has been decided, the amount and character of the land to be taken for a particular tract to complete the integrated plan rests in the discretion of the legislative branch."

The judgment of the District Court was affirmed, but the Supreme Court opinion made it clear that Judge Prettyman's narrow reading of the Act was improper.


What was the Supreme Court's decision regarding the Planning Commission's plan?