Marin IJ article: Courts suppress democracy in upholding corporate rule

I'm super-happy to have this published in Marin IJ
Marin Voice: Courts suppress democracy in upholding corporate rule
https://www.marinij.com/opinion/ci_2...corporate-rule

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High Courts Suppress Democracy while Upholding Corporate Rule

In response to popular outcry against money in politics and the “Citizens United” decision, California legislators put Prop 49 on the November ballot. But on August 11, the California Supreme Court took unprecedented action by invalidating this initiative before people had a chance to vote on it. The court’s reasoning was based on technicalities that restrict initiatives. (link)

Prop 49 would have allowed voters to advise their elected representatives to create an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to do three things: to overturn Citizens United; to fully regulate campaign spending; and "to make clear that the rights protected by the United States Constitution are the rights of natural persons only". (link)

This third part of Prop 49 addressed “corporate personhood”, whereby courts have made laws granting constitutional rights to corporations, effectively giving corporations super-human powers. This decision by California's highest court not only denies the voices of millions of Californians, it implicitly approves the infamous decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court which favor corporate plutocracy and diminish the rights of “natural persons”.

The Supreme Court's rulings in "Citizens United" and "Hobby Lobby" reveal the full bloom of corporate personhood doctrine. The Supreme Court's five-man majority pretends the word "corporation" is written in the Constitution. It isn’t. They further assert that First Amendment "free speech" allows for unlimited spending to purchase elections, because spending money on political campaigns equates to free speech.

Fortunately, the U. S. Supreme Court is divided, with the minority, including the three women Justices, opposing corporate personhood. In 2009, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated: "Judges created corporations, gave birth to corporations as persons… the court's error…". This June, regarding the supposed religious rights of the Hobby Lobby chain stores, Justice Ginsberg wrote: “The exercise of religion is characteristic of natural persons, not artificial legal entities." In July, Ginsberg said the five-man majority has a "blind spot" on women's rights. They also have "soft spots" for the predominantly male corporate owners who control our patriarchal systems. (link)

Most Americans see through the fallacies of "corporate personhood" underlying "Citizens United" and "Hobby Lobby". These horrendous decisions are sparking broad popular movements to change state and federal laws, and to amend the Constitution.

Prop 49 would probably have passed with flying colors. Similar propositions were passed by 81% of San Francisco voters in 2012, and by 77% of Los Angeles voters in 2013. Every time similar initiatives have made it onto ballots, they have won by super-majorities. (link)

The ousting of Prop 49 shows how easy it is for corporatocracy to defeat democracy. The California Supreme Court sided with the right-wing Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, closely related to Tea Party and other groups funded by the Kochs and other billionaires.

In contrast, Prop 49 was powered by a growing democracy movement, including Money Out Voters In, Common Cause, Free Speech for People, and California Clean Money Campaign. The grassroots group 99Rise has even begun civil disobedience to demonstrate the need for systemic change.

The epic problems of money in politics and corporate personhood ultimately require a Constitutional amendment, a rare and beautiful thing. A 28th amendment must pass through the U. S. Congress, where seven different, relevant amendments have been proposed. Only the "We the People Amendment" abolishes corporate personhood. (link). This amendment is being proposed by Move to Amend, a national grassroots coalition with 365,000 members and 125 local affiliates, committed to building a transformational democracy movement.

In 2012, Marin County supervisors unanimously passed a resolution supporting such an amendment. In April 2014, Congressman Jared Huffman became a co-sponsor of Move to Amend’s “We the People Amendment”.

Fairfax resident Craig Slater is a pro-democracy activist and organizer, and a coordinator of Marin Move to Amend. (link)