Corporate Personhood

My friend and esteemed Keloland colleague, Cory Heidelberger, weighed in on corporate personhood on the Keloland blog. I think that Cory is confused about the case and more importantly about the issue. He writes this:

A corporation is not a person. The law and a majority of the current Supreme Court say it is, but they are wrong. As Justice John Paul Stevens said from the bench in dissent yesterday, "corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires."

Well, maybe not; but corporations can act and be held legally responsible for their actions. If Cory is correct, then corporations could not be sued in Court. That is what legal personhood means: the name of a corporate body can appear on one side of the v. in a case name. If the law says a corporation is a legal person then, by definition, it is that kind of person.

Without legal personhood, Planned Parenthood could not have taken a position v. Casey; nor could the Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye have sued the city of Hialeah when the latter tried to legislate it out of the city limits. Neither abortion rights organizations nor churches have beliefs, feelings or desires. Moreover, corporations could have no legal rights, so the Government could step in at will and seize the Sierra Club's treasury and any property it collectively owns. Or, to put it slightly different, the Sierra Club could not own property. I doubt that Cory is really committed to any of these consequences of his declaration.

Cory says:

While I read the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission allowing corporations to donate to political campaigns…

I confess that I haven't read all 183 pages of the decision yet, but I am pretty sure this is wrong. Corporations can be restricted from donating to political campaign organizations under this ruling. But the Government cannot prevent a corporation from acting independently to buy time on TV or space in print to express an opinion about an election.

Cory goes on to accept corporate personhood, arguendo, and then he presents us with this scenario:

Suppose I, a person, amass a vast sum of money (through hard work and wise investing). I run for state senate against Russ Olson. Two weeks before the election, I offer the Madison Daily Leader, KJAM, and every other media outlet that reaches our district four times their going rate to buy every available ad space.

I think this fails as a counterpoint, since many people with vast sums of money do run for office. John Kerry did so. So did Governor Corzine in New Jersey. We see how that worked out.

But my friend's arguendo demolishes his point. If a real person like Cory could present this kind of threat to the political system, then personhood obviously isn't the issue. The issue is what freedoms persons, corporate or individual, ought to have and, as Cory's title has it, what constraints government can put on those freedoms.

I know of no one who thinks that corporate persons have all the rights under the Constitution that individual persons have. I am not sure how Chuck E. Cheese could enjoy freedom of religion, or how Victoria's Secret, without a physical body, could enjoy the freedom of assembly. But I do think that the ACLU and the NRA have the right to take positions on issues and to buy media space to advocate those positions. If they have it, so does Merck, Inc. Barring Cory's imaginary scenario, I don't think Government has the legitimate power to prevent us from hearing what these corporate bodies have to say.

Comments

[Tom Degan]

Ascribing humanity to a corporation, to a company like Exxon or Disney for example, raises too many questions to even list here. But let's at least attempt to ask a few of them, shall we, boys and girls? Here goes....

Are corporations really persons?

Do corporations think?

Do corporations weep?

Do corporations fall in love?

Do corporations grieve when a loved one dies as a result of a lack of adequate health care?

Do corporations have loved ones?

Are corporations even capable of loving?

Do corporations sometimes lose sleep at night worrying about disease, violence, destruction, and the suffering of their fellow human beings?

Do corporations feel your pain?

Is a corporation capable of having a sense of humor? Is it capable of laughing at itself? (EXAMPLE: "So these two corporations walk into a bar....")

If a corporation ever committed an unspeakable crime against the American people, could IT be sent to federal prison? (Note the operative word here: "It")

Has a corporation ever walked into a voting booth and cast a ballot for the candidate of its choice?

We all know that corporations have made a shit-load of cash throughout our history by profiting on the unspeakable tragedy of war. But has a corporation ever given its life for its country?

Is a corporation capable of raising a child?

Does a corporation have a conscience? Does it feel remorse after it has done something really bad?

Has a corporation ever been killed in an accident as the result of a design flaw in the automobile it was driving?

Has a corporation ever written a novel or a dramatic play or a song that inspired millions?

Has a corporation ever risked its life by climbing a ladder to save a child from a burning house?

Has a corporation ever won an Oscar? Or an Emmy? Or a Tony? Or the Nobel Peace Prize? Or a Polk or Peabody Award? Or the Pulitzer Prize in Biography?

Has a corporation ever performed Schubert's Ave Maria?

Has a corporation ever been shot and killed by someone who was using an illegal and unregistered gun?

Has a corporation ever paused to reflect upon the simple beauty of an autumn sunset or a brilliant winter moon rising on the horizon?

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise if there are no corporations there to hear it?

Should corporations kiss on the first date?

Could a corporation resolve to dedicate its life to being an artist? Or a musician? Or an opera singer? Or a Catholic priest? Or a Doctor? Or a Dentist? Or a sheet metal worker? Or a gourmet chef? Or a short-order cook? Or a magician? Or a nurse? Or a trapeze artist? Or an author? Or an editor? Or a Thrift Shop owner? Or a EMT worker? Or a book binder? Or a Hardware Store clerk? Or a funeral director? Or a sanitation worker? Or an actor? Or a comedian? Or a glass blower? Or a chamber maid? Or a film director? Or a newspaper reporter? Or a deep sea fisherman? Or a farmer? Or a piano tuner? Or a jeweler? Or a janitor? Or a nun? Or a Trappist Monk? Or a poet? Or a pilgrim? Or a bar tender? Or a used car salesman? Or a brick layer? Or a mayor? Or a soothsayer? Or a Hall-of-Fame football player? Or a soldier? Or a sailor? Or a butcher? Or a baker? Or a candlestick maker?

Could a corporation choose to opt out of all the above and merely become a bum? Living life on the road, hopping freight trains and roasting mickeys in the woods?

I realize that this is pure theological speculation on my part but the question is just screaming to be posed: When corporations die, do they go to Heaven?

Our lives - yours and mine - have more worth than any goddamned corporation. To say that the Supreme Court made a awful decision on Thursday is an understatement. Not only is it an obscene ruling - it's an insult to our humanity.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

[caheidelberger]

Whoa! I said, "While I read...." I'm just beginning to get through it. Your quotation makes a big difference. Please correct. More to come....

[caheidelberger]

The hypothetical about rich candidates is not a direct counterpoint to the corproate personhood issue: it is an hoenst question, asking readers to explore the issue of wealth, power, and constraints on liberty. My aim in the post you reference was to say, "O.K., let's assume corporate personhood isn't an issue. What are the proper constraints on the political/free speech activity of any person?" I'm still seeking input and working on a position.

[donCoyote]

The Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh's law blog, has several posts on the question of corporations as personal entities. Here's one i found particularly interesting by Ilya Somin, a constitutional law professor at George Mason University.

Read and learn:

http://volokh.com/2010/01/22/should-people-acting-through-corporations-be-denied-constitutional-rights-because-corporations-are-state-created-entities/

[KB]

Cory: Sorry, I was just trying to clip the point out without having to put the entire post in. I see what you mean.

Tom: you have a lot more time on your hands than ideas in your head, apparently. I repeat: corporations can own property and be held responsible in court. That is personhood. The question then is what rights of natural persons they can have.

[CMh]

" no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires" sounds like a
democrat although the desire to control everyone might disqualify.

[Rob]

Interesting dillema. I have to agree with both you and Corey.