Corporations are people?

A citizen?

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Most of us think it was Milton Friedman who was the first to assert corporations have special rights. (Friedman was the one who asserted that corporations have no social compact with their employees or the cities in which they reside.)

But, this battle has been going on for a very long time. As far back as 1809. One of the biggest entities in the US (at the time) brought suit against the state of Georgia; it imposed a tax on the Bank of the United States. The bank felt it was unconstitutional and it had the right to sue. Except the US Constitution only granted “citizens” the right to use in Federal Court. (That’s Article III for those of you who don’t remember our founding documents.)

John Marshall felt that the Bank of the United States was correct. (He agreed with Sir William Blackstone, who authored commentaries on the laws of England, asserting that corporations were artificial persons.) That corporations could be considered citizens. Hmm. Really interesting. After all, Blacks were NOT considered citizens by the courts at that time. Not even 48 years later, since the Dred Scott in 1857 held that (incorrect) fact.

But, it was really was left to the Southern Pacific Railroad, another entity that took umbrage at the taxes imposed on it. And, undertook about 5 dozen cases to make its feelings known. Their lawyer, Roscoe Conkling, claimed that the 14th Amendment (the one granting Blacks equal protection under the laws of the US) also applied to business. Conkling, however, played fast and loose with the facts. (The first of many such lawyers.)

While he was, indeed, on the committee that developed this Amendment, his assertion that this was the intent of the committee was balderdash. (No one else on the committee ever agreed to that interpretation. But, the Supreme Court never had to weigh in -then- on this charade.) But, since that canard was first proposed, it has become the common interpretation. Over the next 30 years, the Supreme Court let the 14th Amendment apply to some 300 cases regarding corporations- but only agreed in 28 cases that it applied to the Black people for which it was written!

In today’s era, we have those infamous decisions- Citizens United (2010) that let corporations spend money on election ads (as if they were people) and the Hobby Lobby (2014) decision that asserted corporations have religious rights- that are continuing this canard.

(If you would like to see how corporations have managed to assert rights that they may or may not truly deserve, I suggest you read this wonderful book by Dr. Adam Winkler, of UCLA.  We the Corporations:  How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights.)

We the Corporations (Adam Winkler)

I am not saying that corporations don’t deserve or require rights. But, I certainly don’t understand how they can have more rights than immigrants.  Or, that they can have a religion!

And, we all know that unless and until Texas executes a corporation, there’s no way a business can truly be considered a person.

Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

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6 thoughts on “A citizen?”

  1. Totally, totally love this post (this might show up as the second comment from me);; for some reason, my past few comments on your post have not shown up.. so trying once more on a different browser.

    1. Yes, I only check comments twice a day- once in the morning and once in the evening. So, I can write blog posts – and effect the creative developments about which I write. Sorry, I missed you comment from 6 pm.

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