If corporations get person status, do churches as well?

[usregimechange]

Can they buy campaign ads? Do they get to cast a vote? Justice Scalito?

[Ikonoklast]

1. Many 'churches' are tax-exempt corporations.

They will buy politicians just like they have been doing all along.

[NoNothing]

2. Corporations aren't people

The Court held they have First Amendment protection. It did not classify them the same as actual people.

[sandnsea]

3. That was done over a hundred years ago

And codified with a series of SCOTUS decision. This one just gave them the complete right to buy politicians.

[NoNothing]

5. No, it didn't

Extending constitutional protection to an entity does not automatically classify it as a "person." Is it so hard to understand that there are different classes of entities that can have varying numbers of rights? Why does everything have to be black or white?

[sandnsea]

6. Santa Clara County v SP Railroad

Corporate personhood, 1886.
http://www.californiademocracy.org/corporations/corporations_main.html

The current ruling just extends this, and a number of other personhood rulings, and gives the corporation the right to use as much money as they like for campaign ads because money is a form of speech, doncha know.

[NoNothing]

7. The only result of that case

Was that the Court said that corporations are protected by the 14th Amendment. That's all! It didn't hold them to be the same as a human or anything like that.

And it's a good thing, too, because if the 14th Amendment didn't cover corporations then state governments could do things like shut down newspapers or raid the ACLU.

[sandnsea]

8. It granted them constitutional rights

The same rights that were specifically written for people.

State governments could not shut down any media, they are covered under freedom of the press.

And the freedom of assembly covers the ACLU.

If for profit corporations continuously break the law and harm a state's citizens, the state should be able to shut them down.

And if you're concerned about the rights of civil associations, then stop calling them corporations.

[NoNothing]

9. Freedom of the press

Does not protect anybody from anything the state government does unless the 14th amendment applies too! It was the 14th amendment that extended constitutional protections from just the federal government to state governments - but only if you are protected by the 14th amendment!

So NO, if corporations are not protected by the 14th Amendment, they are NOT protected by freedom of the press, OR freedom of assembly, OR the fourth amendment.

[sandnsea]

10. I don't care if corporations are protected from anything

Get it?

[NoNothing]

11. Fine, as long as you realize what you are saying

[NoNothing]

13. And for the record

Civil associations like the ACLU are called corporations because they ARE corporations, with a corporate charter and everything.

[Meeker Morgan]

4. Think about how it was *before* McCain Feingold.

Was it really so bad? And why was the ACLU against it?

Think about it. Do you really want to repudiate freedom of speech because some people (who run corporations) are stinkers?

[JerseygirlCT]

12. From what I was reading this weekend, it seems that this would

free not only for-profit corps, but also unions and non-profits - so yes, churches.


I don't know quite how far that goes, or how the ruling impacts IRS rules, though.