November 21, 2005

Susette Kelo, still at the old homestead.

She lost her Supreme Court case, but life goes on just the same as before:
[W]ary of public disapproval and challenges from groups like the Institute for Justice, the law firm that represented the holdouts in court, the state and the city have halted plans to evict the remaining residents. Investors are concerned about building on land that some people consider a symbol of property rights. At the same time, contract disputes and financial uncertainty have delayed construction even in areas that have been cleared.

With so many complications, some people are unsure whether the city's initial vision for the property - a mix of housing, hotel and office space intended to transform part of its riverfront and bolster a declining tax base - is even realistic anymore.
A nice lesson in what we at the Wisconsin Law School love to call "law in action."

Can you think of some other examples, in law or elsewhere, where the loser, losing conspicuously, took on some golden glow that served his interests better than winning?

And I love the line: "Investors are concerned about building on land that some people consider a symbol of property rights." Sounds like in the movies when something is built over an old Indian burial ground.

15 comments:

Simon Kenton said...

Colorado has a make-my-day law because some prosecutors confused the state with California and Massachusetts.

Nick said...

Anyone else reminded of Milwaukee's now blown to bits Park East freeway? Or how about that lonely stretch of 41 north of the stadium? And those were actually for PUBLIC use.

PD Shaw said...

Not quite apropos, but I have a picture in my office of a law school friend and myself with our feat dangling off the uncompleted Overton Park interstate. (Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402 (1971)) The citizens in that case were never able to deal the death blow to the highway project, but the court case, requiring more study, review and public hearings, exhausted the project. There is still a half-completed cloverleaf that rises precariously over the highway below.

Troy said...

The Chicago Cubs and Clay Aiken come to mind.

I think Texas is doing all right -- all that legal sodomy notwithstanding.

Unknown said...

Michael Newdow! He lost his case but found a celebrity career as God-Stalker.

YAMB said...

Clarence Darrow lost the Scopes Monkey Trial.

reader_iam said...

Jimmy Carter?--at least in some quarters ...

Then you've the reverse, people who "won" but are forever tainted--Justice Thomas comes to mind.

jeff said...

Did Darrow lose? I thought when it came to the Scopes Monkey Trial, Darrow won the battle - but the evolutionists seem to have won the war (not counting the ID/Creationist insurgents).

KCFleming said...

Wm. F. Buckley lost the New York mayoral race to Lindsay in 1964, but won the larger goal he desired when his ideas found fruition in the Reagan election.

To be fair, he entered the race knowing he would lose, and even intending to lose, as he rather intended his candidacy to point out how both the GOP and Dems in New York were both wholly liberal in practice.

Ann Althouse said...

Performing Bear: That's not at all what "Law in Action" means. Read the explanation at the link I provided.

Anonymous said...

Can you think of some other examples, in law or elsewhere, where the loser, losing conspicuously, took on some golden glow that served his interests better than winning?

Osama bin Laden.

He lost Afghanistan, but is apparently stronger than ever. Instead of having training camps in Afghanistan, he now has all of Iraq to train his army and to inflict actual harm against his sworn enemy (us.)

Though he lost Afghanistan, we left Saudi Arabia, just as he wanted.

Though he lost Afghanistan, we have significantly struck at our own civil liberties that he hated so much.

Though he lost Afghanistan, and his Taliban Allies, he has seen the rise in our own American Taliban, and the diminishing of our American experiment in respect for all and no religions. And the increasing endorsement by government of religious acts.

While he used to have to payroll his operations through his $50M legacy, we now payroll his marketing campaign to the tune of $300B since 3/2003.

And whereas after 9/11 he was uniformly hated across much of the globe, we are now uniformly hated across much of the globe and 40% of the Iraqi people believe that it is okay for US soldiers to be injured and killed.

So yeah, Osama bin Forgotten....

Anonymous said...

Intriguingly, btw, the US in Vietnam. We lost the war in 75, but by 1995, we had mostly won the economic system.

It's still a repressive system mind you, but check who is making your clothes and shoes and coffee.

And apparently, is the new tourist hotspot.

Pat Patterson said...

George Washington, all he had to do was win the right battle, he lost most of the others.

Anonymous said...

Hey shit-for-brains tcd, I think that it is horrible and terrible that Vietnam has a repressive government.

I didn't endorse Vietnam, only your stupid thuglican brain thinks I am doing that.

In fact, I believe that it is a tribute to capitalism that capitalism saved Vietnam in the long run, and Vietnam is perhaps the best example today of a former soviet satellite, repressive system truly reforming their economy and lightening their system.

gt said...

I wonder how Van Orden is doing these days, the homeless texas lawyer who brought the 10 commandments case. I remain convinced that he was right and the court was wrong.
- arbitrary aardvark
http://vark.blogspot.com