Journal Article•
Guns, Inc.: Citizens United, McDonald, and the Future of Corporate Constitutional Rights
TL;DR: In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a five-member majority of the Court held that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend their own money on political advocacy as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Supreme Court began its 2009 Term by addressing the constitutional rights of corporations. It ended the Term by addressing the incorporated rights of the Constitution. In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a five-member majority of the Court held that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend their own money on political advocacy. A corporation generally is no different than a natural person when it comes to the First Amendment—at least as it relates to political speech. In McDonald v. City of Chicago, a plurality of the Court held that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is incorporated through the Due Process Clause and applies to states and municipalities. Neither the federal government nor states may prevent persons from keeping and bearing arms in their homes for self-defense.
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01 Aug 2019
TL;DR: For example, the United States Supreme Court has held that corporations are entitled to claim an extensive array of constitutional rights as discussed by the authors, and the justifications for these rights have developed from the many different conceptions of the corporation as a legal, moral, economic, social, and political actor.
Abstract: The term “corporation” does not appear anywhere in the United States Constitution, yet the United States Supreme Court has held that corporations are entitled to claim an extensive array of constitutional rights. The justifications for these rights have developed from the many different conceptions of the corporation as a legal, moral, economic, social, and political actor. In particular, the constitutional dimension of the corporation’s personhood is an extension of its legal personhood. Therefore, the fundamental legal theories of the corporate person, i.e., the artificial person, aggregate, and real entity theories, have had a role in supporting the extension of constitutional rights to corporations. The moral and sociological dimensions of the corporate person have also been important. In determining the scope of corporate constitutional rights, the Supreme Court has considered the actual and normative roles and purposes of corporations in our pluralistic and democratic society. Considerations of corporate power, both economic and political, have contributed as well to the debate over which constitutional rights appropriately apply to corporations.
34 citations
01 Aug 2019
TL;DR: The idea that a corporation is a person entitled to certain constitutional rights has become the subject of intense debate in the context of religion and race as mentioned in this paper, which has generated significant controversy in recent years.
Abstract: The idea that the corporation is a person entitled to certain constitutional rights has become the subject of intense debate in the context of religion and race. To what extent can and should corporations be regarded as persons with the status to claim fundamental religious liberty rights and racial equality rights? Can a corporation be associated with a certain religion or race if most or all of its human members identify with one religion or race? Does it make sense to say that the corporation itself can possess and exercise religious beliefs, thereby entitling it to religious liberty rights? Is it possible for a corporation to have a racial identity, thereby affording it standing to claim it has been discriminated against on the basis of its race? Cases involving such questions have generated significant controversy in recent years. The Supreme Court has affirmed the statutory right of corporations to freely exercise religion, and federal courts have developed a body of law to allow corporations to assert racial discrimination claims.
33 citations
Book•
23 Jul 2020TL;DR: Milewicz as mentioned in this paper argues that international constitutionalization has gathered steam as an unintended by-product of international treaty making in the post-war period, whereby states that are both democratic and powerful are the strongest promoters of rule-based cooperation.
Abstract: The elusive ideal of a world constitution is unlikely to be realized any time soon – yet important steps in that direction are happening in world politics. Milewicz argues that international constitutionalization has gathered steam as an unintended by-product of international treaty making in the post-war period. This process is driven by the logic of democratic power, whereby states that are both democratic and powerful – democratic powers – are the strongest promoters of rule-based cooperation. Not realizing the inadvertent and long-term effects of the specialized rules they design, states fall into a constitutionalization trap that is hard to escape as it conforms with their interests and values. Milewicz's analysis will appeal to students and scholars of International Relations and International Law, interested in international cooperation, as well as institutional and constitutional theory and practice.
28 citations
01 Jul 2020
27 citations