ABSTRACT
After all, landowners' property interests are defined by state law, and the vast majority of land use court decisions concern questions of state law decided by state courts. There are four principal reasons. First, the supremacy clause, Article VI of the Constitution, states that there are certain minimum constitutional requirements that the states must observe. Second, land use decisions by local governments can raise federal constitutional questions based on the Fifth Amendment's just compensation (takings) clause made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, and based on the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment itself. Third, consistent with the supremacy clause, the US Supreme Court has now determined that if it can be proven that certain land use regulations effect a taking of property. Finally, the Supreme Court has said that the Civil Rights Act of 1871 [42 U.S.C. § 1983] applies to the actions of local governments.
