1) There were no corporations when the constitution was written.
False. Corporations have existed since the Roman Empire was in full flower. For a more timely example of one on American soil, there is the British East India Company. There have been some (many) changes in corporate structures and rules, but the statement above is definitively false.
2) The first amendment does not apply to corporations.
Obviously it does, at least at present. That is what the Supreme Court affirmed. The reasoning is that a corporation is essentially a “artificial person.” Indeed, that is a large part of the point of incorporating.
3) Freedom of speech is an individual right.
Says who? Maybe it is, but there is nothing in a simple declaration that would make it so.
I dislike the Supreme Court’s ruling, but it is in all senses legally correct. We should be working to change the way corporations are defined and treated so as to curtail some of the rights they currently do possess, the right under question here being one of them.
A few untruths above:
1) There were no corporations when the constitution was written. False. Corporations have existed since the Roman Empire was in full flower. For a more timely example of one on American soil, there is the British East India Company. There have been some (many) changes in corporate structures and rules, but the statement above is definitively false.
2) The first amendment does not apply to corporations. Obviously it does, at least at present. That is what the Supreme Court affirmed. The reasoning is that a corporation is essentially a “artificial person.” Indeed, that is a large part of the point of incorporating.
3) Freedom of speech is an individual right. Says who? Maybe it is, but there is nothing in a simple declaration that would make it so.
I dislike the Supreme Court’s ruling, but it is in all senses legally correct. We should be working to change the way corporations are defined and treated so as to curtail some of the rights they currently do possess, the right under question here being one of them.