Destruction of Poletown ruled illegal
– 23 years late!

Aug 2, 2004

In l981, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the city of Detroit could use its powers of "eminent domain" to seize thousands of homes and small businesses in Detroit's Poletown area, tear them all down, and give the land to General Motors for a new auto assembly plant.

There was great resistance, organized and unorganized, by the community, but in the end the bulldozers came.

On July 29, 2004, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled – unanimously – to overturn the l981 decision. It's "unconstitutional" for a government to seize someone's private property in order to give it to another private party. So said the court.

That's very interesting. Now will the court order the neighborhood replaced and rebuilt?