Legal Niches

Junior Statesmen hear eminent domain talk

By William J. Ward

Today at the Statehouse Annex in Trenton, New Jersey high school students, who participated in the New Jersey Symposium on Leadership and Politics hosted by the Junior Statesmen Foundation and Princeton University, heard a lecture on eminent domain among other topics.

The symposium is a unique forum where students hear speakers at the highest level of state government and have the opportunity to ask questions of these officials in an informal setting. The students heard from members of Governor Corzine's cabinet and the Honorable William Pascrell III from the U.S. House of Representatives. It was an honor for me to participate as a guest lecturer and to have the opportunity to address a group of elite students, all of whom will be starting their senior year in the fall. Some of the group indicated interest in pursuing a career in law and most were interested in politics and governance at the state level. 

The students posed questions that demonstrate their awareness of the eminent domain issue and the controversy surrounding it. They were especially interested in the Kelo case and eminent domain reform and the pending changes to the current statutes that are under consideration by the Legislature. They asked questions about the eminent domain process and were concerned about property owner rights to compensation and relocation assistance. Democracy is not a spectator sport  -  that's the tagline on the Junior Statesmen Foundation web site. This calls to mind another quotation: "The price of democracy is eternal vigilance."  Those are the words of one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson.  Based on my experience with this group of young people today, our participatory democracy is in good hands.

Full post as published by New Jersey Eminent Domain Blog on August 15, 2007 (boomark / email).