As demonstrated in Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, government attempts to protect the environment are often thwarted by Fifth Amendment takings claims demanding that “just compensation” be paid to the property owner. ... The Court, however, also established an exception to the rule, holding that the state could overcome the claim if it could prove on remand to the South Carolina Supreme Court that “background principles” of the state’s law of property already placed restrictions on the landowner’s title. Such “background principles,” the Court continued, must “do no more than duplicate the result that could have been achieved in the courts by adjacent landowners (or other uniquely affected persons) under the state’s law of private nuisance, or by the state under its complementary power to abate nuisances that affect the public generally, or otherwise.” ... Original research reveals that during the oral arguments, the court actually invited the state to assert the public trust doctrine as a background principle of common law pursuant to the United States Supreme Court’s directive. Inexplicably, the state of South Carolina failed to make a public trust argument during the remand. Nonetheless, this invitation by the court lends new support to the argument that these doctrines may be asserted to protect environmental regulations from takings claims under the circumstances presented in Lucas.