Last month in Latham, N.Y., just outside of the state capitol of Albany, a hearty band of property-rights warriors gathered for the indefatigable Carol W. LaGrasse’s 22nd Annual National Conference on Private Property Rights to hear from what she called “leaders and experts from New York and across the country.” It was an eye-opener for anyone who believes property owners are under siege only in California, the Mountain West, big cities, or rural America. Nope. Enemies of private property, it seems, are pervasive.

James S. Burling, vice president for litigation of Pacific Legal Foundation, which set early national precedents for property owners at the Supreme Court against the notorious California Coastal Commission, discussed scores of unconstitutional land grabs in the Golden State and elsewhere but gave a path forward, given the confirmation of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.