Sources of Corporate Personhood
And
Impact of Corporate Personhood on All Aspects of
Society, and the Environment
(All are invited to add to this list, both new topics, and descriptions of how CP impacts a
particular issue – until this list is “formalized” on MTA (or elsewhere) – please send
suggested changes to Michael Greenman – MTA Central Ohio at
mgreenmanoh@gmail.com - Thanks)
Note: “Four places where corporations have been granted powers in the Constitution:
Contracts Clause, Interstate Commerce Clause, Property Rights, and Personhood Rights
which includes 14th Amendment, Bill of Rights (1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 14th Amendments),
and Civil Rights Legislation.” (Above statement and specific court cases from “Timeline
of Personhood Rights and Powers” prepared by “Women’s International League for
Peace and Freedom”.)
 Specific Cases granting Rights to Corporations* o 1886 – Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad – Establishes that
corporations are persons.
o 1889 – Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad v. Beckwith – Supreme Court
rules a corporation is a “person” for both due process and equal protection.
o 1893 – 5th Amendment – Nobel v. Union River Logging – Corporations
have claim to Bill of Rights – “The 5th Amendment says: … nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
o 1905 – 14th Amendment – Lochner v. New York – constitution used to
invalidate government regulation of corporations, usually under “due
process” clause of the 14th Amendment
o 1906 – 14th Amendment – “Search and Seizure” protection – Hale v.
Henkel – gave protection against govt. looking into the books, records or
papers of a corporation.
o 1908 – 6th Amendment – “Right to Jury Trial” – Armour Packing v. U.S. –
Corporate defendant is considered an “accused” for 6th Amendment
purposes.
o 1922 – 5th Amendment – “Takings clause” – Pennsylvania Coal Co. v.
Mahon – “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just
compensation,” a regulation is deemed a “takings”. This clause is basis
for NAFTA and WTO.
o 1936 – 1st Amendment – Grosjean v. American Press Co. – Newspaper
corporation has 1st Amendment liberty right to freedom of speech. Can
sell advertising in newspapers without being taxed.
o 1947 – 1st Amendment – Taft-Hartley Act – Corporations are granted
“free speech” in the union certification process, usurping worker’s right to
“freedom of association” and greatly weakening the Labor Relations Act
of 1935
o 1967 – 4th Amendment – See v. Seattle – Protection from random
inspection by fire departments. An administrative warrant is necessary to
enter and inspect commercial premises.
o 1970 – 7th Amendment – Ross v. Bernhard – Right to jury trial in a civil
case.
o 1976 – 1st Amendment – Buckley v. Valeo – Money is equivalent to
speech. This expanded the 1st Amendment’s protections to include
financial contributions to candidates or parties.
o 1976 – 5th Amendment – protection against double jeopardy – U.S. v.
Martin Linen Supply – used in an anti-trust case.
o 1976 – 1st Amendment – Advertising is free speech – Virginia Board of
Pharmacy v. Virginia Consumer Council – Supreme Court protects
commercial speech.
o 1977 – 1st Amendment – First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti Overturn state restrictions on corporate spending on political referenda.
o 1978 – 4th Amendment - Marshall v. Barlow – gave right to corporations
to require OSHA to produce a warrant to check for safety violations.
o 1996 – 1st Amendment – Right not to speak – International Dairy Foods
Ass. V. Amestoy. No requirement to label products containing bovine
growth hormone. Extended to statements of fact as well as statements of
opinion. Prevents laws requiring GMO’s to be labeled.
o 2003 – 1st Amendment – untruths in advertising – Nike v. Kasky –
Question of whether 1st Amendment gives a corporation the right to speak
lies remains unsettled.
o 2010 – 1st Amendment – Speech – Citizens United v. Federal Elections
Comm. – overturned most provisions of McCain-Feingold legislation that
restricted corporate money in federal elections and reversed hundred-year
precedent of Congressional authority to regulate federal elections. Most
explicit justification of “corporate personhood” by the Court.
 Politics
o Honest elections – Lies are rampant in election materials and media;
www.commoncause.org;
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/pages/election_reform;
www.fairvote.org;
o Voting Machines – IP prevents inspection of software
o Campaign Finances – Supreme Court threatening to do away with Arizona
public financing of elections.
o Finance Information Access – confidentiality of many contributors to
organizations.
o Equal and fair access to media – no longer observed. Media licenses are
not subject to any oversight.
o Honest, transparent, inclusive – Citizens United permits unlimited money
for advertisements in favor of or against any candidate
o Direct democracy/representation – Efforts in many states to disenfranchise
voters in ethnic or social “classes” that would likely vote Democratic
o Local Control – Local jurisdictions often are limited in their ability to
make their own decisions.
 The Courts
o Mandatory Binding Arbitration (MBA) – Most contracts include only
MBA for redress of wrongs by corporations on persons or even small
businesses! See Hightower Lowdown (March 2013) http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3264#.UWl_gRnlVqc
 Education
o Civics – no longer in most schools
o Public vs. Private – Efforts to give support to private schools through
vouchers and other means; eliminate public schools by reducing budgets
o Vouchers – Ohio governor pushing to make more broadly available
o Religion – Ohio pushing for financial support to religious schools
o Corporate Influence – Text books pushed by corporations; video shows
paid by corporations broadcast every day in many schools; sponsorship of
courses
o Art, physical education, ethics, etc. – eliminated in many schools
 Economics
o Green Economics – Actively discouraged. B-Corps almost unheard of
o Real GDP – Quality of Life measure should be emphasized. GDP
represents rate at which raw materials are converted to garbage.
o Local business vs. BBR – Jobs lost, income exported, local community
weakened.
o Monetary reform – Federal Reserve creation of money and secret
allocations result in decimation of economic system, creating poverty,
unemployment, loss of housing.
 Environment
o Seventh Generation – Next quarter profits vs. long-term thinking and
planning.
o Commons vs. Private/corporate access – EPA not able to inspect without
search warrant (mining company in WV
o Recycling – Waste management firms make inaccurate economic
arguments to communities that demonstrate partisan interest in reducing
recycling certain products. “Single-Stream” recycling is in profit interests
of those firms, not communities, society, or environment.
o Species extinction – mining, drilling, over-fishing, clear-cutting forests
destroys habitats leading to extinction of entire species of animals and
plants.
o Over population – “impact of politics and economics have a far more
significant impact on famines than do “over” population”i.
o Global Warming – Resistance to Carbon controls perpetuates increases in
Greenhouse gas emissions.
o Oceans Dying – Agricultural runoff and solid waste “Islands” create dead
zones in oceans.
o Alternative Energy – Resistance based on likely reduced income stream
that results from use of non-hydrocarbon “free” energy sources.
o Reducing Energy consumption – Resistance based on reduced income
stream.
o Mountain Top Removal – Easier, cheaper access to coal destroys ecosystem, adverse effect on health, loss of jobs (fewer employees)
o Fracking – Destruction of aquifers and poisoning water and environment.
 Economic Globalization
o Privatization – Adds to cost of goods
o Fair Trade Vs. Free Trade – Destroy local economies; cause mass
migration to cities (slums) or across borders
o Sweatshops – still a factor in many countries and used by many multinational corporations
o Outsourcing – encouraged by U.S. tax laws
o Race to the Bottom – “Exernalizing” costs in developing countries used to
increase profit and damage country and culture
 Corporate rights/personhood
o Corporate democracy – does not exist in U.S. Many other countries
require worker participation in management
o True cost of business – many factors not taken into consideration
 Healthcare
o Universal – Single Payer – inaccurate information leads to public mistrust
of this widely accepted practice. U.S. only OECD country not using SP
o Access to necessary but illegal treatments – Women’s issues continually
being attacked.
o Elder care – Medicaid and other programs frequently are sought as sources
of funding “re-allocation”.
o Access to necessary surgery – insurance companies unilaterally decide
what life-saving surgery is not necessary.
o Prescription prices – U.S. has highest prescription prices in the world
o Prescription Drug deceit – advertising is hucksterism; “moral duty” of
corporate executives reduced to maximizing profits; regulations cut on
safety; legal punishment for damages limited to small fines
 Agriculture
o Subsidies – Most subsidies to large corporate farm organizations
o Support for sustainable systems – minimum subsidies
o Factory Farms – antibiotics, GMO feed, filthy conditions - protected
o Animal abuse – slaughterhouses – source of many diseases
o Local and sustainable farming – no national support
o GMOs – patenting of seeds and litigation for inadvertent plantings
 Peace
o Landmines – resistance to signing treaties
o Weapons Trade – No control possible
o Support for genocidal leaders – particularly where natural resources are
available to multi-national corporations
 Media
o Control of airwaves – Public airwaves increasingly “given” to corporate
monopolies with no requirements for balance or support for public
interest.
o Monopolies – information dissemination increasingly in hands of fewer
and fewer monopoly media corporations across all media types
o Net restrictions – corporations seeking to reduce economical access to
high-speed internet
o Broadband - Many countries, even developing, have widespread high–
speed and free internet access.
 Military
o Outsourcing Intelligence – Stratfor Inc. (Strategic Forcasting, Inc) – 1/3 of
CIA’s workforce has been privatized, employed by 114 corporate
contractors. (“Hightower Lowdown” – April 2012)
o Outsourcing Military – in 2012 90,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan,
113,000 employees of military contractors. (“H.L. – April 2012)
 Labor
o Right to organize – State governments (ALEC) encouraging elimination of
labor unions
o Whistle Blowers – discouraged and sometimes arrested
o Parental leave – limited and resisted
o Minimum Wage – resistance to reasonable increases
o Right to Negotiate – attempt to eliminate
o Paid Vacations – U.S. has least amount of vacations of any developed
country
 Discrimination (“isms”): (Many in all areas)
o Age
o Race
o Religion
o Culture/Language
o Economic
o Environmental
o Gender
o Sexual Orientation
o Disability
 Penal System
o Criminalization – highest level of incarceration in the world
o Women’s rights – women imprisoned for seeking reasonable health care
services
o Privatization – Corporations encourage punitive laws to increase their
prison population (ALEC)
o Prison structure – overcrowding, abuse
o Prison labor – Paid slave wages while corporations benefit with low labor
costs
o Restorative justice – punishment, not restoration is the rule
o Account for white-collar crime – minimum punishment for egregious
financial and other white collar crimes.
 Gun Control
o NRA, sponsored by gun companies, prevents meaningful gun control
legislation.
o 2nd Amendment has been misinterpreted by the Supreme Court under
pressure from gun companies. Original ratification of the amendment was
pushed by slave states to preserve slavery (corporate need for free labor);
http://truth-out.org/news/item/13890-the-second-amendment-was-ratifiedto-preserve-slavery;
i
http://www.globalissues.org/article/216/effects-of-over-consumption-and-increasingpopulations - Global Issues: “Effects of Over-Consumption and Increasing Populations”.