Talking Points on the Need to Amend the U.S. Constitution and Overrule CU v FEC
Last updated Jan 20, 2010
Whether you are writing letters, testifying in support of a resolution or talking to other individuals, we're compiling some of the most useful messages to convey to rally support for overruling the Supreme Court to revoke the doctrines of corporate "free speech" and corporate "constitutional rights." This collection will grow rapidly during February-March 2010 and we welcome your suggested additions.
We've provided primers to help you write effective letters to the editor and to spread word via talk radio. We've also combined both of these tip sheets into one double-sided flier (pdf)-- a great way to distribute the information locally. Also, don't forget social media!
Suggested talking points:
- The Supreme Court's attribution of constitutional rights to corporations is unsupported by the U.S. Constitution or the writing of the Constitution's authors. The invention of corporate personhood was an act of raw judicial activism that undermines our Constitution's promise of a republican form of government.
- While our Constitution's authors were alive, corporations were completely subordinate to democracy. They could not own stock, engage in activities other than those essential to their business, nor could they make any political or charitable contributions. Corporate lobbying also was prohibited. Maybe they were onto something?
- No human being's First Amendment rights will be infringed by preventing corporations from engaging in electoral advocacy. Though we dissent from the Supreme Court's view that spending money to influence election outcomes is equivalent to speech, every corporate executive remains free to spend unlimited amounts of his/her own money to advocate for or against a political candidate or party (only direct investments to a candidate's campaign fund are limited by law).
- Corporations are artificial creations of governments (in the U.S., through the Secretary of State's office in a particular state). No group can decide to give themselves limited liability, immunity from prosecution for corporate crimes, or other privileges. Only governments bestow such privilege. As government creations, corporations should be subject to democratic control, not enabled to control democracy.
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The many special powers and privileges the government grants corporations (e.g. limited liability, perpetual lifespan, etc.), make limiting their political power essential.
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Corporate personhood allows giant corporations to undermine free enterprise by extracting political favors that distort market competition. This harms the vast majority of businesses seeking to prosper by providing needed goods and services, rather than through legal bribery. Two of the three broad-based national business organizations filing briefs in the Citizens United case argued against expanding corporate “political speech.”
- from the Citizens United dissent of Justices Stevens (joined by Justices Sotomayor, Ginsburg), ". . . . corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their “personhood” often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established."
See Move to Amend and FreeSpeechForPeople.org for additional information (since we have provided some of the writing for these efforts, you will see some overlap). See also our archive on the Nike v. Kasky Supreme Court battle on "corporate speech" and our library of resources on the underlying issue of Corporate Personhood.
