Cite as: 533 U. S. 606 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioner Anthony Palazzolo owns a waterfront parcel of land in the town of Westerly, Rhode Island. Almost all of the property is designated as coastal wetlands under Rhode Island law. After petitioner's development proposals were rejected by respondent Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (Council), he sued in state court, asserting the Council's application of its wetlands regulations took the property without compensation in violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, binding upon the State through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Petitioner sought review in this Court, contending the Supreme Court of Rhode Island erred in rejecting his takings claim. We granted certiorari. 531 U. S. 923 (2000).
I
The town of Westerly is on an edge of the Rhode Island coastline. The town's western border is the Pawcatuck River, which at that point is the boundary between Rhode
Blumenthal of Connecticut, Thurbert E. Baker of Georgia, Earl I. Anzai of Hawaii, Andrew Ketterer of Maine, Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts, Mike McGrath of Montana, Frankie Sue Del Papa of Nevada, Phillip T. McLaughlin of New Hampshire, John J. Farmer, Jr., of New Jersey, Eliot Spitzer of New York, Betty D. Montgomery of Ohio, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Mark W. Barnett of South Dakota, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, Iver A. Stridiron of the Virgin Islands, and Christine O. Gregoire of Washington; for the County of Santa Barbara by Stephen Shane Stark and Alan L. Seltzer; for the American Planning Association et al. by Timothy J. Dowling and James E. Ryan; for the Board of County Commissioners of the County of La Plata, Colorado, by Michael A. Goldman and Jeffery P. Robbins; for the National Conference of State Legislatures et al. by Richard Ruda and James I. Crowley; for the National Wildlife Federation et al. by Vicki L. Been and Glenn P. Sugameli; for Save the Bay-People for Narragansett Bay by Deming E. Sherman and Kendra Beaver; and for Daniel W. Bromley et al. by John D. Echeverria.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the National Association of Home Builders by Christopher G. Senior; and for Dr. John M. Teal et al. by Patrick A. Parenteau and Tim Eichenberg.
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