Eminent Domain, G.W. Bush Presidential Library and SMU.

DALLAS - The school favored to host the George W. Bush Presidential Library, Dallas's Southern Methodist University, may encounter a snag next week in the form of a lawsuit alleging that the school has improperly seized local homes in order to secure land for the proposed library site.

Amid increasing outrage among Republicans over the use of eminent domain and other coercive measures to obtain private property for public projects, a case in Dallas County's 134th Civil District Court, which is set to begin on Tuesday, will determine whether the university violated its legal obligations to local homeowners in an effort to secure the land currently occupied by the University Gardens condominium complex, a potential library site.

"They're taking my home," said Gary Vodicka, one of the litigants and a University Gardens owner and resident, yesterday.

The case comes as the competition for the $200 million to $300 million library, which has had some schools making plans to attract the memorial since before President Bush's election in 2000, draws to a close, and could end any time in the next six weeks.

A party to the library competition told The New York Sun this week that a member of the library selection committee said a decision was expected sometime within the first quarter this year, or before March 31 - a date moved up from previous projections that the library site would be announced in the second quarter.

A spokesman for the head of the selection committee, former Bush commerce secretary Donald Evans, said the selector was declining to comment on all aspects of the competition as the committee reviewed the proposals, including the selection date.