In Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court held that corporations and unions “should have the same right as individuals to pay for election ads and other electioneering,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Not addressed in the court’s decision was whether corporations and unions also have “the same right as individuals to donate money directly to candidates for Congress or the White House.”
After the ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit upheld the ban on direct donations, “saying the [U.S.] Supreme Court recognized Congress could enact such restrictions as a way of deterring corruption.” Given that corporations and unions can contribute to political campaigns through "independent" groups that air commercials favoring certain candidates, one might wonder whether the restriction on direct donations is of any importance whatsoever. Moreover, one might wonder whether any potential restriction could even channel the influence of powerful corporations in Congress and over regulatory agencies (even their own!). That is, the underlying problem is that the large concentrations of wealth and property in corporate form may be inconsistent with democracy.
Even the ban on direct donations has been challenged. Specifically, Federal Judge James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled on May 27, 2011 that corporations and unions can donate directly to political candidates. In his decision, he wrote, “Citizens United held that there is no distinction between an individual and a corporation with respect to political speech. Thus if an individual can make direct contributions within [campaign-finance] limits, a corporation cannot be banned from donating the same thing.” At the time, federal law limited an individual’s donations to a particular candidate at $2,500 per election. Corporations could donate $5,000 per election to candidates through political action committees, which are funded by voluntary donations from employees.
Cacheris is on solid ground concerning drawing out the logic in Citizens United. Even so, it is the premise of that case that is vulnerable to critique. To claim that there is no distinction between an individual and a corporation (or union) with respect to political speech is to commit a category mistake regarding citizen and free association thereof. In spite of the faddish “corporate citizenship” slogan, a group of citizens is not itself a citizen. To claim otherwise is to engage in anthropomorphism. In other words, having a right to freely associate with other citizens does not give the ensuing group itself the rights of citizenship; only citizens, which are human beings, can have the rights of citizenship.
As retired Justice John Paul Steven pointed out in suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court would need to clarify its reasoning in Citizens United, "it will be necessary to explain why the First Amendment provides greater protection to the campaign speech of some non-voters [i.e., domestic corporations] than to that of other non-voters [i.e., foreigners who were barred at the time from making campaign contributions]." In referring to corporations as non-voters, Stevens is saying that they are not citizens, and thus the rights of free speech, petitioning the government, and making political contributions do not apply. Relatedly, from the “legal person” judicial doctrine, which limits stockholders’ own liability, has come the spurious notion that money is somehow speech (another category mistake). With certain collective legal persons being deemed citizens, the right to free speech at the corporate level translates into spending money. In short, we as a society seem blind to some rather blatant category mistakes, and this lack of awareness just happens to be in the interest of the large corporations and banks. I'm reminded of the "church lady" who was a character on Saturday Night Live. "Well, isn't THAT convenient!" she used to say rather sarcastically to any given guest on her "talk show."
It is perhaps beyond coincidence that in a society and polity wherein large corporations are powerful, they have been deemed not only legal persons, but citizens as well—and with the rights of free speech, petition, and campaign contribution. I suspect that beyond the sheer power exists a pro-business ideology in the society, which enables this double-counting of citizens who associate in corporations and unions. A manager, for instance, can exercise rights of citizenship not only individually, but also in directing an organization (association) in its public affairs department.
Rather than worry about whether relaxing particular restrictions might enable corruption, we might examine whether our fallacies (i.e., category mistakes) are both a result and facilitator of it. Our parents and grandparents willfully created an organizational world, such that organizations could gain such assumed legitimacy that they have been able to become citizens having much more wherewithal than the human kind. Merely to write “the human kind” demonstrates how warped the default has become. One might wonder if it is still possible to wind back the line to contain the absurdity from becoming the accepted logic.
Sources:
Brody Mullins and Brent Kendall, “Court Lets Corporations Give to Candidates,” The Wall Street Journal, May 28-29, 2011, p. A4.
Mike Sacks, "Citizens United Attacks from Justice Stevens Continue," The Huffington Post, May 30, 2012.
Mike Sacks, "Citizens United Attacks from Justice Stevens Continue," The Huffington Post, May 30, 2012.
