Supreme Court urged to protect homeowners’ property rights in data center power fight

A group of Maryland property owners are urging the Supreme Court to get involved in a property rights fight over the potential construction of power lines amid a data center boom in the region.Data center development and increased energy production to support those data centers have been hot-button issues across the country in recent years, including in Maryland and neighboring Virginia. The fight between a coalition of Maryland landowners and developer PSEG Renewable Transmission deals with whether a lower federal court followed state law in allowing the developer to enter the landowners’ property to survey and study the land as they explore potentially building a 67-mile-long transmission line.A lower federal court issued a preliminary injunction allowing the company to enter the properties to conduct surveys. But the landowners objected, later arguing that the court had effectively granted the company eminent domain powers, which only the state can give. The state had not done so. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the ruling, leading the landowners to the Supreme Court. The group of Maryland landowners asked the justices to determine if a court may use a preliminary injunction to “allow a private party to exercise sovereign eminent domain powers before it has been delegated that authority.” “What may appear to be a procedural quirk has immediate and devastating practical consequences going to the very heart of the fundamental right of private property ownership: the Fourth Circuit authorized a private party to enter Petitioners’ property without first establishing that the private party possesses the sovereign power on which its claimed right of entry depends,” the landowners, who own homes, farms, and businesses, said in their plea to the Supreme Court. “This circular approach allowed PSEG to exercise a power derivative of Maryland’s sovereign power of eminent domain before PSEG possessed that authority.”The Pacific Legal Group, a law firm that specializes in property rights cases, is backing the Maryland landowners in the legal battle and urged the Supreme Court to take up the case.“The Fourth Circuit’s ruling has wrongly authorized a physical invasion of Marylanders’ homes and businesses,” said Aaron Newell, an attorney at PLF. “Courts have the responsibility to interpret the law, not invent hypotheticals that give private companies clearance to wield government powers against Americans. We urge the Supreme Court to overturn this decision.”Data center development has become a polarizing issue, especially regarding property rights and the effects new data centers have on communities. During the midterm elections this week, municipalities nationwide approved ballot measures halting the development of data centers, with only Harwood, North Dakota, turning down a measure to limit data center development. Maryland is not among the top states with data centers, but nearby Virginia has the most data centers of any state in the country, concentrated heavily in the northern part of the Commonwealth.SUPREME COURT APPEARS POISED TO HAND COLORADO MAJOR LOSS IN RELIGIOUS PRESCHOOL CASEThe Supreme Court could make a decision about whether to get involved in the data center power fight as early as next year. If the high court were to take up the case, it would likely schedule arguments for its next term, which begins in October 2027.The high court’s current term already features 33 cases, with the justices expected to take up roughly two to three dozen more cases for oral argument before the term concludes at the end of June. Some of the most notable cases the justices are set to rule on include a dispute over religious freedom and Colorado’s universal preschool program, state “assault weapons” bans, a nearly 160-year-old home alcohol distilling ban, and President Donald Trump’s mandatory detention policy for illegal immigrants.