Takings cases will be tougher

In what can be seen as a victory for proponents of better land use, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that federal courts can't be counted on as a legal bail-out for people who claim the government improperly took their property.

The California case involved a San Francisco hotel that wanted to convert rooms previously assigned permanent residents to tourist rooms. The hotel sued the city over restrictions and lost in the state Supreme Court, according to the Associated Press.

"This is a big victory for local governments," said Nicole Garnett, a Notre Dame law professor.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, in a rare admission, wrote in a concurring opinion that he and his colleagues may have made a mistake 20 years ago when they told people in such property fights that they must exhaust state court options before filing federal suits.