Articles & Written Materials

Corporate Personhood Perverts Our Democracy

By: Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap & David Cobb, Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County

Published in the Times-Standard newspaper - July 2005

The judge’s ruling in the Maxxam/Palco fraud case asserts that the corporation is a “person” with the “right to lie” when petitioning their elected representatives. How did we come to this?

We still don’t know whether or not the allegations that the corporation intentionally submitted fraudulent and deceptive data in order to secure timber plans are true. As a result of the outrageous and ridiculous idea that a corporation is a “person” vested with constitutional rights, we may never know the truth.

Before we examine that doctrine in detail, let’s quickly review what we do know.

We know that Maxxam and Palco contributed over $250,000 to the attempt to recall our duly elected DA. We know that without this incredible amount of money the effort to collect signatures for this effort would have failed miserably. We know that Maxxam’s representatives intentionally misrepresented the truth when they insisted they were not contributing to the recall effort. We know that the people of Humboldt overwhelming rejected this heavy-handed corporate effort.

We also know that the courts and judges can be wrong.

Courts once held that the indigenous were not legally “persons,” that slavery was acceptable, that women had “lesser” rights than men, that trade unions were a criminal conspiracy, and that Jim Crow segregation laws did not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Courts and judges can be profoundly wrong.

Judge Richard Freeborn was wrong to dismiss the Palco fraud lawsuit.

The judge specifically acknowledged that he was basing his decision on “a constitutional privilege based upon freedom of speech and the right of citizens to petition their government.” He also said that “the concept of representation depends upon the ability of the people to make their wishes known to their representatives” by lobbying.

Hold on!

The U.S. Constitution is designed to protect flesh and blood people when they are exercising their political and civil rights. That’s good, because concentrated power and decision-making authority is a source of potential tyranny.

The history of the United States has been a series of struggles on the part of people of color, women, the poor, workers, and the indigenous to be considered “persons” with constitutional rights under the law. So when the courts illegitimately confer constitutional “personhood” status on corporations, they are not only insulting this history—they are literally perverting the entire framework of our democratic Republic.
That’s because a corporation is itself a source of concentrated wealth and power. And corporations are increasingly wielding more decision-making authority over our lives.

Another thing -- just what the heck does it mean that the corporation was “petitioning their elected representatives.” Aren’t elected officials elected by people to represent people? Or is the judge tacitly admitting that our government is increasingly representing corporations?

To be sure, every employee of a corporation has the absolute right to sign petition recalls, contribute money, and to lobby their government. But they hold these political rights by virtue of their status as people in a democracy. No corporation can legitimately claim these political rights.

So the most troubling aspect of this unfolding scenario is the pointed example of the degree to which large corporations have hijacked our economic, political and legal institutions. The very fact that it seems "radical" to have a duly elected district attorney attempt to uphold the law against a powerful out-of-state corporation is chilling. The fact that a court can dismiss such a lawsuit is beyond the pale. It calls into question the integrity of the legal system itself.

In our democratic Republic, "We the People" are hallowed words. We are the only source of legitimate political power, and we should be making the fundamental public policy decisions that affect our lives.
In reality, unelected and unaccountable corporate CEOs are making public policy, pretending that their decisions are entirely "private" corporate matters beyond the scope of our authority. And the courts are increasingly conspiring with the corporate elite to erode our democratic right to local control.

So we join with others across the County in urging the District Attorney to appeal the dismissal of the lawsuit. But in the court of public opinion, Maxxam has already lost, and so has the legal system itself.
It's time for "We the People" to take our sovereignty seriously. Let’s abolish corporate “personhood” in Humboldt County!

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap is Director of Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County (DUHC) and David Cobb serves on the DUHC Steering Committee. They live and work in Eureka. Democracy Unlimited can be reached at www.duhc.org.