SCOTUS and the high stakes North Dakota case

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) -A Supreme Court case out of North Dakota could have major implications for landowners everywhere. If justices side with federal law over state law, landowners likely would lose any incentive to pursue fair payment when the government takes their land, and they would risk sinking any potential payout into court fees.

When the government takes land, it has to pay the owner. That is called eminent domain, and it is in the Constitution. One pipeline company, working on behalf of the government, low-balled landowners, and the dispute turned into a multi-year legal battle. The landowners won but were left with $380,000 in legal fees.

North Dakota has a state law that says the pipeline company has to pay those legal fees. The federal government says the company does not have to. Bob McNamara argued the case Monday.

“What we’re saying is that when states try to protect private property owners, private companies have to respect those laws. Even private companies wielding the power of eminent domain,” McNamara said.

Justices appeared skeptical of that argument. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said, “unless Congress says state law is applicable, when you have federal condemnation by any actor, you would have federal law be the applicable rule.”