Jon Stewart notes a little hypocrisy in the GOP backing private land seizure for the Keystone XL pipeline

Jon Stewart notes a little hypocrisy in the GOP backing private land seizure for the Keystone XL pipeline
(Image credit: The Daily Show)

Warning: Jon Stewart is going to be talking about eminent domain and a Supreme Court case in the clip below. If that sounds a little dry and boring for a Friday (it isn't), you might be more interested in his takedown Thursday night of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) over her "hail Mary Landrieu" bid to use the Keystone XL pipeline as a tool to save her endangered Senate seat.

If you're still here, the hook is that TransCanada, the private company building the Keystone pipeline, needs to use eminent domain to take private land on which to build its pipeline, and Republicans claim they hate eminent domain. For example, they railed against the 2005 Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London, which gave eminent domain rights to private corporations if the land seizure furthered private economic development. So watch as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tries to square his bedrock support of private property rights with his support of the Keystone project, and as House Republicans slip "a small disclaimer in their eminent domain is evil law." --Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.