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When can government-granted rights receive property protection in the United States?

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Oil portrait of Hugo de Groot, also known as Hugo Grotius, by the workshop of Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt, showing him with a ruffled white collar and dark clothing. — Property law Portrait of Hugo de Groot (Hugo Grotius), oil on panel by the workshop of Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt, 1631; in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

In the United States, government-granted rights can receive property protection when the legislature issues a grant to an individual or group in a manner that entitles them to such status. Once established as property, these rights cannot be revoked without due process of law in a procedural sense. Furthermore, some grants may be structured so that they cannot be taken by the government without the payment of compensation.1

Traditionally, intangible rights such as copyrights, patents, and trademarks are recognized as property rights and receive protection against state interference. While other government-created benefits, such as social-insurance payments, have not historically been treated as property, there is an emerging tendency in legal thought to extend property-like protections to these interests as well. Generally, there has been a growing trend to make government grants more secure, meaning they can be taken away for fewer reasons and through more elaborate legal processes.12