Supreme Court Allows Fast Tracking of Property Rights Case
The Heartland Institute cites Attorney Devin Watkins on the Knick decision.
The Knick decision should help ensure states play fair with takings claims, says Devin Watkins, an attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
“State court judges are often friendly with the local elected officials, who often are the ones who put them on the bench,” said Watkins. “As such, there is an incentive for judges to give the local officials a break and maybe be less aggressive concerning what is a taking or how much ‘just compensation’ is.
“Federal judges often have never even met the local elected officials and will rule solely based on the law as they see it,” Watkins said. “This creates a competition between federal judges and state judges … encourage[ing] state judges to be fairer.”