Comment & Debate
Farheen Hakeem, co-chair of the Green Party, commented “Restoring democracy and the idea that constitutional rights should only apply to humans will now require a citizens’ effort as strong as the Civil Rights Movement.”[1]
Lisa Gilbert. “In The Public Interest: Corporate Democracy – The Citizens United Opinion.” Huffington Post. January 21st, 2010: “A corporation is not, nor has it ever been, a person with voting rights. Corporations cannot get married, they cannot die, and a corporation is not a part of “We the People.” The very idea that they can now channel their immense wealth to advocate directly for or against a federal candidate is abhorrent.”
“The Court’s blow to democracy.” New York Times Editorial. January 21, 2010: “The founders of this nation warned about the dangers of corporate influence. The Constitution they wrote mentions many things and assigns them rights and protections — the people, militias, the press, religions. But it does not mention corporations. […] Most wrongheaded of all [in the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision] is its insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights. It is an odd claim since companies are creations of the state that exist to make money. They are given special privileges, including different tax rates, to do just that. It was a fundamental misreading of the Constitution to say that these artificial legal constructs have the same right to spend money on politics as ordinary Americans have to speak out in support of a candidate.”