Cite as: 505 U. S. 1003 (1992)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
U. S., at 596. "Although a comparison of values before and after is relevant," the Court stated, "it is by no means conclusive." 9 Id., at 594. In 1978, the Court declared that "in instances in which a state tribunal reasonably concluded that 'the health, safety, morals, or general welfare' would be promoted by prohibiting particular contemplated uses of land, this Court has upheld land-use regulation that destroyed . . . recognized real property interests." Penn Central Transp. Co., 438 U. S., at 125. In First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles, 482 U. S. 304 (1987), the owner alleged that a floodplain ordinance had deprived it of "all use" of the property. Id., at 312. The Court remanded the case for consideration whether, even if the ordinance denied the owner all use, it could be justified as a safety measure.10 Id., at 313. And in Key-stone Bituminous Coal, the Court summarized over 100 years of precedent: "[T]he Court has repeatedly upheld regulations that destroy or adversely affect real property interests." 11 480 U. S., at 489, n. 18.
9 That same year, an appeal came to the Court asking "[w]hether zoning ordinances which altogether destroy the worth of valuable land by prohibiting the only economic use of which it is capable effect a taking of real property without compensation." Juris. Statement, O. T. 1962, No. 307, p. 5. The Court dismissed the appeal for lack of a substantial federal question. Consolidated Rock Products Co. v. Los Angeles, 57 Cal. 2d 515, 370 P. 2d 342, appeal dism'd, 371 U. S. 36 (1962).
10 On remand, the California court found no taking in part because the zoning regulation "involves this highest of public interests—the prevention of death and injury." First Lutheran Church v. Los Angeles, 210 Cal. App. 3d 1353, 1370, 258 Cal. Rptr. 893, 904 (1989), cert. denied, 493 U. S. 1056 (1990).
11 The Court's suggestion that Agins v. City of Tiburon, 447 U. S. 255 (1980), a unanimous opinion, created a new per se rule, only now discovered, is unpersuasive. In Agins, the Court stated that "no precise rule determines when property has been taken" but instead that "the question necessarily requires a weighing of public and private interest." Id., at 260-262. The other cases cited by the Court, ante, at 1015, repeat the Agins sentence, but in no way suggest that the public interest is irrelevant
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