Authors

• Michaela R. Hill, William & Mary Law School

Not Just a Castle in the Sky: A Legal Remedy for Race-Based Takings in Virginia

Abstract

Part I will address federal and state statutes and case law surrounding physical takings and the eminent domain power. Part I will also discuss Virginia’s history of racial discrimination in housing, the Shoe Lane Community in Newport News, and CNU’s expansion into the neighborhood for the elimination of blight. Part II will present the first prong of this Note’s three-pronged approach to correcting Virginia’s abuse of its eminent domain power to take residential properties: adopting stricter statutory blight standards. Part III will present the second prong: a new formula for calculating increased just compensation. Part IV will outline the third prong: a model for owner or descendant return. Lastly, Part V will address counterarguments and explain why the three-pronged approach is Virginia’s best option to both prevent and rectify unjust takings of minority residential communities in the name of eliminating blight.

This abstract has been taken from the introduction.

Repository Citation

Michaela R. Hill, Not Just a Castle in the Sky: A Legal Remedy for Race-Based Takings in Virginia, 67 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1497 (2026), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol67/iss5/6