That case, decided by a state court in 1998, focused on whether the state could condemn land on behalf of someone else.

The other objects to the city's use of its eminent domain powers to condemn land needed for the library project.

Another lawsuit objects to the city's use of its powers to condemn land for the project.

Colorado law grants the federal government permission to condemn land for some purposes, like building courthouses and post offices.

By law, he said, the state could simply condemn land in any municipality and build the depot there.

But the Times Square project still faces court challenges, and the agency has yet to begin condemning or acquiring land.

A housing authority has the power to condemn land by eminent domain and to issue bonds.

But he acknowledged that the corporation could condemn land to acquire it.

It made little difference whether the federal government sought to condemn private or public land, Burton concluded.

In the United States, as in most countries, a government has the right to condemn land, paying the owner compensation.