Community - Yes and No

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Prefer to stay private

Member Since: Sat May 17, 2008

In Reply To

Late Great Donald Blake

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Member Since: Sat May 17, 2008
Posts: 7,461

Subj: Yes and No
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2022 at 04:34:50 am EST (Viewed 251 times)

Reply Subj: Actually that part was due to various interpretations of the 14th Amendment
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2022 at 11:45:05 pm EST (Viewed 245 times)

They are also the ones that pushed for Citizens United, which allows businesses to be viewed as people, so they could give unlimited donations, under the guise of speech.

LGDB: This is just a minor correction but I thought worth bring up: it wasn't Citizens United that did this specifically (though Citizens does presuppose it.) Unless I'm mistaken you're thinking of the 1886 decision Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific rail road, which first applied the Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment to a corporation (as it would a person) in a headnote, which was subsequently interpreted as part of the SCOTUS verdict generally (apparently) numerous times.

Citizens United--as well as its precursor in the 70's, "the Belloti decision"--equates the campaign donations of various entities including businesses as forms of speech and therefore would be protected under the First Amendment.

cheers,
---the late great Donald Blake

P.S. I only vaguely remember hearing about this and had to look all this up lol

It is true that Santa Clara County v. Union Pacific was the first
to equate a corporation with being a person, but it was specifically for
the point of taxes.

The campaign finance issue specifically related to the
granting of certain rights. The reason why it was decided that
corporations could give unlimited amount was because spending money is
speech, and speech cannot be limited by the government. If memory
serves.

So, you are right I was not fully clear, and I did combine
the two, but it is Citizens Untied that has more direct impact on this,
not only because of the subject matter but in terms of the "karmic"
nature.

Good recall though, and you are right that it is part of a larger systemic problem in the country, but again Citizen's United is the more connected to this example.