TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Paul Burch on May 25, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 today in favor of a 94-year-old woman who claimed that a Minnesota county violated the U.S. Constitution's Takings Clause by taking her $25,000 equity as profit when it sold her home in a tax foreclosure sale, reports Reuters. Writing for the court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. noted, "A taxpayer who loses her $40,000 house to the state to fulfill a $15,000 tax debt has made a far greater contribution to the public fisc than she owed.” Roberts added: “The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but no more."