Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage
Join the conversation on Twitter using #CatoEvents. Follow @CatoEvents on Twitter to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute. If you have questions or need assistance registering for the event, please email our staff at events@cato.org.
No U.S. Supreme Court decision in the modern era has been so quickly and widely reviled as the infamous Kelo decision, in which the Court ruled that Susette Kelo’s little pink house in New London, Connecticut, and the homes of her neighbors could be taken by the government and given over to a private developer based on the mere prospect that the new use for her property could generate more taxes or jobs.
Now, three years after that decision comes a riveting new book that looks behind the scenes of the fight and focuses on the actions of two strong women diametrically opposed to each other: Susette Kelo, who struggled to save her home vs. Claire Gaudiani, a college president who headed up the New London Development Corporation’s effort to take Susette’s home for a private development plan.
As Jeff Benedict details in his book, Susette takes on the City of New London, a cast of characters too evil to be believed, and, ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case that was followed by thousands and sparked a revolutionary change in state law across the country—except in the case’s home state.
We hope you will be able to join us and hear first‐hand from major participants in one of the Supreme Court’s most historic and controversial rulings.
