"Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory."

When former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that line in her biting dissent from Kelo v. New London – the now-infamous and egregious case in which the Supreme Court ruled that governments could use the power of eminent domain to take private property to give to developers – she obviously viewed the issue as one that would disenfranchise the poor and powerless.

That has been the prevailing view, held by most observers, including us, and the prevailing practice.  No one contemplated enclaves of affluence becoming targets of governments-gone-wild land grabs.  After all, what elected official could be so stone-cold stupid as to take on people who can squash a politician without soiling their suits?

Well, as it turns out, a succession of mayors of North Hills, N.Y., including the incumbent, one Marvin Natiss, could be that stupid, maybe even more so.  The citizens of North Hills are rich, maybe even richer than that.  As Peter Applebome wryly wrote for The New York Times, "If they ever decide to rewrite 'The Great Gatsby' as a land-use and property law textbook, it will read pretty much like the battle between the haves and have-mores now playing out on the North Shore of Long Island."

North Hills is small, befitting beautiful, and its residents (did we say they're rich?) suffer not, at least by accepted norms.  They just don't have a "community" golf course, and they want one.

It's not that there aren't golf courses around.  As Applebome points out, there are "20 golf courses within five miles and more than 50 within 15 miles."  In fact, there are two golf clubs right there in North Hills – North Hills Country Club and Deepdale Golf Club – but both are private.  Well, never mind, the village will just take one and make it "public," providing what Mayor Natiss calls a nice "amenity" that would "increase property values" for North Hills.

The golf club the village wants is Deepdale, magnificent and exclusive, claiming two former U.S. Presidents as members, valued at $100 million.  Now that's a taking.

To put it mildly, the members of Deepdale do not wish to sell it.  One of the club's members, Edward D. Herlihy, is also its lawyer, with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz.  To those unfamiliar with the firm, it occasionally practices law by the Powell Doctrine –overwhelming force disproportionately applied.

In the March 28 Opinion Journal of The Wall Street Journal, Herlihy succinctly lays out a convincing argument as to why North Hills' contemplated taking goes way beyond the four corners, such as they are, of Kelo.

Given the growing and acerbic comment the proposal is attracting, we fully expect that the mayor and his rich pillaging villagers will back down and North Hills v. Deepdale will never see a docket.  Drat!

We badly want the case to proceed, for several reasons.

First, watching catfights among the rich is one of life's great pleasures, infinitely more intriguing than the bipartisan dwarf tossing that has become the order of the day in Washington.

Second, there's got to be far more to this story than has thus far been told, and we want to know every salacious bit of it.

Third, and seriously now, Kelo is a disaster of jurisprudence that cries for any revisitation it can get, and when stupid steps beyond vile, that is opportunity for court reconsideration.  In addition, all such confrontations can only help spur legislative efforts to restrain the outrageous abuses of eminent domain that the Supreme Court has allowed.