Crux of the Biscuit
(Law • )
In a lot of ways, it was all downhill from here for the citizenry of the United States. “Here” being 1886 when, contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Supreme Court did not declare that corporations enjoy the same constitutional rights as individuals.
They never rendered a decision on the issue because it never came up. Instead, after the Supremes resolved a tax dispute between a California county and Southern Pacific Railroad Co., the court reporter wrote the customary decision summary, including the following sentence:
“The Court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution which forbids a state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws applies to these corporations. We are all of opinion that it does.”
In 123 years since then, no one has challenged the notion that a corporation should enjoy rights equal to an individual’s. Even though the concept has not been legally proven and, it could be argued, corporations have used this assumption to run roughshod over individuals’ rights ever since. As a possible result, corporations pretty nearly control the legislative process at the state and federal levels whenever it suits their whim.
Should a corporation have rights? Sure. Is a corporation the same as an individual? No. Should an individual and a corporation enjoy identical rights under the Constitution? Can’t say for sure. Does current interpretation of the law favor corporate rights over individual rights? Wow, it sure seems that way most of the time.
Just something to chew over along with breakfast.
→ B.Dunn, Oct 15, 2009, 06 46 am
