EMINENT DOMAIN - POWER OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO CONDEMN LAND IN PUBLIC USE FOR AN INCONSISTENT FEDERAL USE

Defendants, landowners and next of kin of persons buried in a cemetery which was being subjected to condemnation, moved to dismiss the federal government's petition for condemnation of such lands on the grounds that the federal statutes did not authorize the United States to take land already dedicated to a public use for an inconsistent use; and that public cemeteries were not subject to the United States' power of eminent domain. The land was being condemned to effectuate a federal project under the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Federal Emergency Relief Appropriations Act of 1935, and was for public purposes in furtherance of congressional powers. The federal district court denied the motion to dismiss, holding that the United States had stated a cause of action for condemnation of the cemetery. United States v. Sixty Acres of Land in Williamson County, (D. C. Ill.

1939) 28 F. Supp. 368.