Supreme Court Issues Narrow Takings Clause Ruling in DeVillier v. Texas
In DeVillier v. Texas, the Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling in an important Takings Clause case. Richard DeVillier and other property owners whose land was damaged by flooding caused by actions of state agencies will be able to proceed under a Texas state law cause of action. But the Court did not resolve the issue of whether the Takings Clause is “self-executing”—allowing property owners whose land has been taken to bring cases in federal court even in the absence of a specific federal statute authorizing it.
The Supreme Court decision does, however, overturn the extremely dubious Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruling dismissing the plaintiffs’ case. At least for the moment, it also negates Texas’ Catch-22 attempt to get rid of the case by removing it to federal court (DeVillier originally filed his claim in state court), and then getting it dismissed on the grounds that there is no federal cause of action available.
Here are some key passages from the unanimous Supreme Court ruling written by Justice Clarence Thomas:
The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment states: “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” We have explained that “a property owner
acquires an irrevocable right to just compensation immediately upon a taking” “[b]ecause of ‘the self-executing character’ of the Takings Clause ‘with respect to compensation.’ ” Knick, 588 U. S., at 192 (quoting First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles, 482 U. S. 304, 315 (1987)). Texas does not dispute the nature of the substantive right to just compensation. This case presents only a question regarding the procedural vehicle by which a property owner may seek to vindicate that right.Constitutional rights do not typically come with a built-in cause of action to allow for private enforcement in courts. See Egbert v. Boule, 596 U. S. 482, 490–491 (2022). Instead,constitutional rights are generally invoked defensively in cases arising under other sources of law, or asserted offensively pursuant to an independent cause of action designed for that purpose… DeVillier argues that the Takings Clause is an exception. He relies on First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles to assert that the just-compensation requirement of the Takings Clause is “self-executing” and that “[s]tatutory recognition [is] not necessary” for takings claims because they “are grounded in the Constitution itself.” 482 U. S., at 315 (internal quotation marks omitted). In other words, the Takings Clause creates by its own forcea cause of action authori
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