In the Lucas v South Carolina Coastal Council decision (pp. 269-273 in your textbook) the Supreme Court deals with the challenges brought on by private property owners as a result of the National Environmental Protection Act. In this case, the Supreme Court deals with one of these challenges, and in the process recasts its mechanism for defining a taking under the Fifth Amendment.

1. What are the ethical issues surrounding the principle of using eminent domain to take away the property ownership rights of individuals?
2. How would you feel if you purchased land and then were told you could not build for environmental reasons or merely that the government would be taking the property away from you?