Staff Reports
It’s a great day for taxpayers everywhere as the Supreme Court has ruled to put an end to the thieving and unfair practice of home equity theft. Hennepin County, Minnesota learned that it couldn’t get away with seizing an elderly woman’s home and profiting from it, after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that keeping the profits was in violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
This #SCOTUS is definitely #Trump's greatest achievement. See: https://t.co/CpL5sea8Ic
— Michael Daconta (@mdaconta) May 26, 2023
Geraldine Tyler fell short on a property tax payment of $15,000 for her one-bedroom condo in Minneapolis. In response, Hennepin County took Tyler’s home away and sold it for $40,000, keeping the $25,000 difference as its own surplus profits. Chief Justice John Roberts declared that the $15,000 tax debt was all that Tyler owed, and the county could not unlawfully exploit this as a way to get its hands on more of her assets.
VICTORY! 🎉 Today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County is a major win for property owners nationwide.
The Constitution guarantees that private property may not be taken by the government without just compensation.
The Court affirmed today that a state…
— Cato on Law (@CatoOnLaw) May 25, 2023
Justice Neil Gorsuch supported the ruling in a concurring opinion, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also agreeing that the county’s unlawful action violated the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.
It’s important to note that home equity theft is already banned in the majority of U.S. states, and now with this ruling, the Supreme Court has effectively ended this immoral and unlawful practice. Taxpayers can now have the peace of mind that their homes and property will not be seized in such a manner, thanks to the bold and righteous decision the Supreme Court has made.
It’s clear that taxpayers deserve better and this ruling will serve as a powerful reminder to any state or county government that the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment must be respected and upheld.
