Euclid v. Ambler Realty Company 272 U.S. 365 (1926)
EUCLID v. AMBLER REALTY COMPANY 272 U.S. 365 (1926)
This case established the constitutionality of zoning laws to regulate land use. In Euclid a Cleveland suburb sought to preserve an area of single-family dwellings by excluding even two-family dwellings and apartment houses, as well as commercial properties and public buildings. Against claims drawn from supposed deprivations of liberty and property without due process of law and a supposed denial of the equal protection of the laws, a 6–3 Supreme Court, speaking through Justice george sutherland, sustained the comprehensive zoning ordinance. It was, the Court ruled, a legitimate state police power measure intended to maintain the residential area and thus protect the community's health, peace, and safety. As a result of this leading decision on comprehensive zoning laws, no argument drawn from the fourteenth amendment or from the takings clause is likely to survive judicial scrutiny in the absence of an ordinance that is demonstrably unrelated to the improvement of a community.
Leonard W. Levy
(1986)