Handout A: The Takings Clause

Directions: Read the following excerpt from the Fifth Amendment. With your group members, come to an agreement about how best to define the terms below. Then brainstorm ideas of things that could be considered “public use.”

No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

1. Definition of “due process of law”
2. Definition of “taking”
3. Definition of eminent domain
4. Definition of “public use”
5. Definition of “just compensation”
6. Examples of things that could be considered “public use”