In Re Redevelopment Auth. of Philadelphia

OPINION

Justice BALDWIN.

The primary question raised in this appeal is whether taking private property, certified as blighted 36 years previously, by eminent domain, in order to convey the property to a religious entity as part of a redevelopment plan, violates the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. The Commonwealth Court, in a four-three en banc decision, reversed the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia’s determination that the taking was lawful, and found that, among other things, the taking violated the Establishment Clause. Because we believe that under the limited…