SCOTUS: A major Eleventh Circuit ruling just declared that COVID beach closures in Florida were a physical taking. Officers blocked owners from their own land & threatened arrest. Judge Lagoa says this violated the Fifth Amendment. Other lockdown policies are now be vulnerable. In a major property rights ruling, the Eleventh Circuit overturned the district court & held that Walton County’s 2020 beach shutdown commandeered private land. Officers used private property as patrol zones & excluded owners entirely, which Judge Barbara Lagoa said triggered automatic compensation under the Takings Clause. The panel emphasized that government cannot bar citizens from their own land under the guise of public health. This case may head to the Supreme Court & reshape post COVID constitutional law.