Don Chairez, Property Rights and PISTOL

(Don Chairez with Susette Kelo, lead plaintiff in Kelo v. City of New London)

About two decades ago, local governments nationwide started claiming “valid public use” as an excuse to abuse the power of eminent domain for redevelopment purposes. In Nevada, Judge Don Chairez fought back. When the City of Las Vegas took the parking lot of the Aztec Inn Casino in order to hand it over to the Stratosphere Casino, Judge Chairez ruled that the city’s actions did not constitute a valid public use. Judge Chairez's decision was among the first in the nation to curb government abuse of eminent domain powers for redevelopment, and the very first in the state of Nevada.

Judge Chairez wasn’t finished. In City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency v. Pappas, Judge Chairez again stood up for the rights of property owners, this time with a landmark ruling that the City of Las Vegas was wrong to declare the Pappas property as blighted and wrong to take the property – again under the guise of “valid public use.”

Judge Chairez's respect for property owners' rights has not gone unnoticed. In fact, in June of 1995, the Las Vegas Review-Journal hailed him as the "Hero" of private property rights.

In September 2003, however, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed Judge Chairez in the Pappas case and ruled the City of Las Vegas was allowed to take the Pappas family property.  

Two years later, the issue of eminent domain received national attention during the infamous Kelo case. In Kelo, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was permissible for local governments to take away the property of Suzette Kelo so the city of New London, Connecticut, could give it to a developer. The Court ruled that this did not violate the “public use” clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Don Chairez became convinced that something needed to be done.

This Land Is My Land

In response to those decisions, Don Chairez co-authored the Nevada Property Owner’s Bill of Rights, which would prevent the type of land grabs seen in the Kelo and Pappas cases. Don has been joined in his fight by more than 130,000 Nevadans who signed the petition to put this initiative, nicknamed the “People’s Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land” (PISTOL), on this November’s ballot.

But passing PISTOL isn’t enough. As a Nevada Supreme Court Justice, Don Chairez will fight to protect the will of the people, and make sure that the protections provided in PISTOL are not gutted by a Nevada State Supreme Court that does not believe in all of its protections.