If you thought the U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition of corporations as “persons” was a catastrophic blow to our political system, don’t look now but the high court’s latest decision by the right wing majority may very well be its death knell.
In its 5-4 decision, the nation’s highest court (image above) has granted expanded rights to corporations that allows them to spend as much money as they would like for the purpose of influencing elections. The First Amendment case is titled Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
The notion that corporations deserve “personhood” is ludicrous on its face. Firstly, corporations have many protections in the law that are not accorded to individuals. Real persons (human beings) are protected within corporations from any real liability for their actions.
If you doubt this, consider the management of those corporations involved in the infamous Savings & Loan scandals of the 1980’s and 1990’s. They got off scot-free!
In our more recent bank bailouts, the managements responsible for the chaos that created the financial disaster we’re still experiencing also were not held accountable.
"It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans," President Barack Obama said.
We can only hope that Congress will find a way to regulate the activities of corporations that would in some small way slow the steady progress toward making the military-industrial complex a complete reality.
The Roberts Court, 2009
Front row: Associate Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Antonin G. Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.
Back row: Associate Justices Samuel A. Alito, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor.
Back row: Associate Justices Samuel A. Alito, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor.
