[lbo-talk] corporate personhood

[J Cullen]

>J Cullen wrote:
>
>>>Michael Pollak wrote:
>
>>>2) The amendment drive here could be fixed with a few words so 
>>>that it wasn't crazy.  Instead of abolishing corporate personhood, 
>>>the amendment could simply say that Congress and the states can 
>>>pass laws that discriminate between corporate and natural persons 
>>>when such discrimination is found to be in the public interest.
>>>
>>>Which I think is really what people who sign this mean.  They 
>>>don't really want to abolish corporations.  They just want to be 
>>>free to pass laws to curb what they can do.
>>>
>>
>>I think the MoveToAmend.org group is simply trying to restore the 
>>authority of state and federal government to regulate corporations. 
>>I don't think they're trying do abolish corporations (though, of 
>>course, there may be a few corporaphobes who favor eradication).
>
>The whole issue of corporate personhood is a distraction from the 
>real issue of campaign finance law, which is giving Congress the 
>right to regulate campaign expenditures by *anybody* - corporate or 
>non-corporate.
>
>And there's no need to restore the state's authority to regulate 
>corporations - obviously corporations are already regulated, in lots 
>of ways. Yes, sometimes the Supreme Court will overturn one of those 
>regulations, but it also regularly overturns laws that apply to 
>natural persons, too. Again, the issue of corporate personhood is a 
>red herring.
>
>SA

It's not a red herring. As long as the courts consider corporations 
to be persons under the 14th Amendment -- a  reading of the 14th 
Amendment that is faulty, if not fraudulent, but now appears to be 
ingrained in judicial thinking -- then corporations can claim that 
states cannot discriminate against them in trying to impose special 
taxes or regulations, and at least four justices on the current 
Supreme Court appear ready to back them up, with Anthony Kennedy the 
swing vote.  Sometimes states and the federal government just need to 
treat corporations differently from real people.  If we need to point 
out to the Supreme Court, with a constitutional amendment, if 
necessary, that corporations are not entitled to equal protection 
under the law as natural people, then it's worth a try.