Christie Forgot He Signed Bill Authorizing State University To Use Eminent Domain

I was listening to Governor Christie Monday night on NJ 101.5 FM when a distraught woman called into the "Ask the Governor" program asking whether or not it  were true that he signed a bill authorizing Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University to use eminent domain to condemn and confiscate a piece of private property near the university. Christie seemed flabbergasted at the question and assured the woman that he did not sign any such the bill into law.

Apparently the governor forgot that he actually signed the bill into law last September. Yesterday the Washington Post reminded Mr. Christie:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has apparently forgotten that he recently signed a bill giving a New Jersey state university board the power to condemn private property [HT: Nick Sibilla]: 

Asked Monday about a measure giving eminent domain powers to a new Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University joint board of governors, Gov. Christie said he was unaware of such a proposal. 

“If a bill like that comes to my desk, I’ll have to take a close look at it,” Christie said, fielding a call from a listener on NJ 101.5′s Ask the Governor radio program. “I haven’t heard anything at this point about eminent domain being given to a university – I don’t think that’s the way it works.” 

However, Christie signed the bill into law last month. 

Using eminent domain to take private property for transfer to public universities is probably constitutional under the Fifth Amendment, which limits the use of eminent domain to takings that are for a “public use.” Virtually all scholars and jurists agree that government ownership of the condemned property is enough to satisfy the public use requirement. But university takings are still generally a bad idea, for reasons I outlined here and here. 

Back in September, Governor Christie also signed a bill enacting an eminent domain “reform” law that actually increases the risk of abusive takings instead of alleviating it. It would be interesting to know whether he has forgotten about that bill as well...

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