Corporations and the First Amendment

If you have the time read Justice Stevens dissenting opinion.

Some highlights...

 

The Court has already determined in previous cases that the First Amendment applies to corporations. There is also a previous decision that the court can't suppress political speech based on corporate identity.

So you would have to successfully argue that in this case, campaign advertising is somehow insulated from the full scope of the First Amendment.

 

So, does that mean we'll someday have the Tostitos Joe Blow For President Fiesta Bowl?

 

Define -- "getting involved in the process"

 

And just to tiptoe around the political aspect of this:

It seems corporate sponsorship of a candidate could really backfire....what would it reveal about a candidate whose ads said 'Paid for by Allstate Insurance'....?

 

The corporations won't be Allstate or Tostitos. It will be a group of folks who form a corporation to support someone or tarnish someone else -- just like they do now.

 

Agreed. Which is probably one of the reasons the court voted to allow advertising: people still have to make their own decisions -- just like they do now.

 

I'll support the Poulan Weedeater candidate!!!

 

I'm just waiting for the day that someone who is arrested for prostitution solicitation appeals that the laws block their First Amendment right to free speech.

To me, it's the George Carlin logic. Giving money equals speech. Having sex isn't against the law. So why is giving money to have sex is against the law?