The Supreme Court clearly confused corporations with people. Nowhere in the Constitution or the Amendments is the word "corporation" to be found. Freedom of speech, religion, et al, are benefits of humans, not the artificial concept of corporation that only lawyers admire. Add to that the fact that corporations are often multinational, allowing foreign entities to now influence Washington with wild abandon.
Republicans are fond of complaining of judicial activism, yet this blatant example of it is acceptable to them, with its ignoring of precedent and ruling on a larger issue that even the two parties did not request. Chief Justice John Roberts has favored corporations 100% of the time from the beginning of his private practice through Citizens United. He promised in his Senate confirmation hearing that he would respect judicial precedent, a bald-faced lie.
Citizens United will go down in history alongside other memorable rulings:
- Kelo v. City of New London, where property was confiscated from individuals and given to corporations.
- Hammer v. Dagenhart, where the Supreme Court held that Congress could regulate lottery schemes, prostitution, and liquor because they were inherently immoral, but regulating child labor went too far.
- Lochner v. New York, which held that workers' hours could not be limited because doing so would interfere with "the freedom of master and employee to contract with each other." Lochner was really just a continuation of Dred Scott, with race being replaced by employee status.
- Plessy v. Ferguson, where "separate but equal" was created.
- Dred Scott v. Sandford, which held that some people were mere chattel.
The Supreme Court is doing its part to keep the country safe for feudalism.
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