In 1926, in the case of Euclid v. Ambler, the Supreme Court upheld zoning, giving elected officials and city planners vast, new, and largely unchecked power to tell people what they can and cannot do with their own private property. On this episode: the story of the lawsuit that changed everything for American property rights plus the personalities who made it happen.
Click here for episode transcript.
Euclid v. Ambler (Supreme Court opinion)
Ambler v. Euclid (district court opinion)
Resources
Michael Allan Wolf, The Zoning of America: Euclid v. Ambler
John Infranca, Singling Out Single Family Zoning
M. Nolan Gray, How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It
Paige Glotzer, How the Suburbs Were Segregated; Developers and the Business of Exclusionary Housing, 1890-1960
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