Forum Post: let's ask occupy? Amnesty for Non Citizens...
Posted 12 years ago on March 10, 2012, 1:39 p.m. EST by elf3
(4203)
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why wasn't the supreme court challenged on the fact that corporate board members might not be citizens? How can they be allowed to give unlimited campaign donations based on "corporate" citizenry if they aren't actually citizens or headquartered in the US? Is this amnesty?
I respectfully submit that you might need to do a little more research...
Wrong - I have... have you? http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf
The speech rights of corporations, while I don't like it, have nothing to do with the membership of their boards. If the corporation is chartered in America, it's an american corporation, even if every member of the board is a foreigner, or every shareholder for that matter. And it wasn't the Citizens United decision that gave them the status of "legal individuals", it was a much older case called "Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad" back in 1886: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad
So while I actually agree with the points you make in your comment below this one about unlimited campaign donations, etc., you help the cause best when you can be more precise in your arguments.
Justice Scalia It is the speech of many individual Americans, who have associated in a common cause, giving the leadership of the party the right to speak on their behalf. The association of individuals in a business corporation is no different—or at least it cannot be denied the right to speak on the simplistic ground that it is not “an individual American.”
Uh - what if they're not actually Americans
East India Trading Company - corporations were not intended to be seen as persons by our government - founding fathers were aware of the dangers - unlimited campaign donations subvert the rights of actual people and actual citizens who live here in this country