Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency

Chief Justice Rehnquist, with whom Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas join,

dissenting.

For over half a decade petitioners were prohibited from building homes, or any other structures, on their land. Because the Takings Clause requires the government to pay compensation when it deprives owners of all economically viable use of their land, see Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U. S. 1003 (1992), and because a ban on all development lasting almost six years does not resemble any traditional land-use planning device, I dissent.

I

“A court cannot determine whether a regulation has gone ‘too…