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Old 09-04-2004, 02:13 AM
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viscousmemories viscousmemories is offline
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Default Project Censored: Corporate Personhood Challenged

Project Censored: Corporate Personhood Challenged

It seems that the notion of "corporate personhood" (affording corporations the same legal rights as individuals) is a remnant of a misrepresentation of an 1886 Supreme Court case. The court didn't rule that corporations should be so entitled, the Court reporter did. Apparently the court reporter (former railroad president J.C. Bancroft Davis) misrepresented the ruling in the headnote on the case summary.

Chief Justice Rehnquist pointed out this flaw in his dissent to a 1978 case (wherein the Court ruled that corporations were entitled to free speech protections on the matter of donating money to political causes) saying:

Quote:
This Court decided at an early date, with neither argument nor discussion, that a business corporation is a ‘person’ entitled to the protection of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Nevertheless, it seems that corporations still seek (and sometimes find) refuge in these rulings. For example:

Quote:
In 1998, Nike CEO Phil Knight wrote a New York Times op-ed piece responding to criticisms of Nike’s Asian labor practices. As was widely reported in the mainstream press in mid-April of this year, San Francisco consumer advocate Marc Kasky filed a lawsuit against Nike believing the company misled the public about its labor practices. Nike, however, claims that the First Amendment protects Nike’s statements, making it irrelevant whether the statements are true or false.
The more I dig the more I realize that this story is only the tip of an iceberg, so I'll stop throwing out my uninformed comments now. For a lot more information on corporate personhood, read the article linked above, check out the pages at Reclaim Democracy, or just wait for lisarea to jump in here. :D
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Old 09-04-2004, 11:34 PM
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Default Re: Project Censored: Corporate Personhood Challenged

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Originally Posted by viscousmemories
The more I dig the more I realize that this story is only the tip of an iceberg, so I'll stop throwing out my uninformed comments now. For a lot more information on corporate personhood, read the article linked above, check out the pages at Reclaim Democracy, or just wait for lisarea to jump in here. :D
ARGH! The PRESSURE! How can I be expected to perform when everyone's looking at me?

I'm mostly just bumping this in hopes that someone else will say something I can argue with.

I need a libertarian or something, I think.
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