Home > Great American Court Cases > Berman v. Parker

Legal Citation: 348 U.S. 26 (1954)

Appellants
Berman and other owners of a department store in Washington, D.C.

Appellees
The National Capital Planning Commission, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency

Appellants' Claim
The government's taking of their store was unconstitutional because it was contrary to the guarantees of the Fifth Amendment.

Chief Lawyers for Appellants
James C. Toomey, Joseph H. Schneider, Albert Ginsberg

Chief Lawyer for Appellees
Simon Sobeloff, Solicitor General

Justices for the Court
Hugo Lafayette Black, Harold Burton, Tom C. Clark, William O. Douglas (writing for the Court), Felix Frankfurter, Sherman Minton, Stanley Forman Reed, Earl Warren

Justices Dissenting
None (John Marshall Harlan II not yet appointed)