Arkansas wrongly seized, sold man's home, justices rule

USA Today reports:

The Supreme Court declared Wednesday that a state must take steps to ensure that a property owner is sufficiently notified of a tax delinquency before it seizes and sells a home.

The decision revealed an irritation among the majority for how Arkansas officials used the "extraordinary power" to seize a home.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who read the court's opinion from the bench, recounted how Gary Jones had paid the mortgage and taxes on his house beginning in 1967 when he bought it, through a 1993 separation with his wife and move to an apartment, and until the mortgage was paid off in 1997.

An interesting case.