Harmful Use and the Takings Clause in the Eye of the Beholder: Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council

Whichever of these two possibilities prevails, both possibilities require the courts to perform essentially legislative functions regardless, in other words, of whether public ecological resources receive insufficient or ample protection from private enterprise that wants to consume them. The traditional Takings Clause precedents, on the other hand, would give public ecological resources and private property ample protection with minimum judicial oversight. The traditional position seems preferable for this reason.