Foxconn is using the village of Mount Pleasant’s eminent domain authority to acquire homes in the way of Foxconn’s private roads in Racine County. Using the utmost in circular reasoning, the justification for condemning perfectly fine homes at the Foxconn site is that the development itself is making the homes “blighted.”

No Republican has opposed giving Wisconsin citizens’ private property to this Taiwanese company.

But property rights suddenly become sacrosanct for Republicans if the issue intersects with environmental conservation. In Murr vs. State of Wisconsin, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that long-standing county conservation rules preventing the Murrs from splitting and selling land on the St. Croix River did not constitute the taking of their property. Shortly after the decision, then-Gov. Scott Walker signed Republican legislation overturning the conservation rules, allowing the Murrs to split the property.

So taking private property for transfer to private business is OK, according to Wisconsin Republicans, but not for bike paths, recreational trails sidewalks or river conservation. How does taking land for Canadian oil pipelines meet the constitutional requirement of “public use,” but taking land for trails and sidewalks — which are used by Wisconsin citizens for transportation and recreation — does not?