Right Wing Radical Extremists Legislate from U.S. Supreme Court Bench

With the decision to throw out the legislated ban on corporate contributions to political campaigns, the fanatical right wing U.S. Court majority tore up the Constitution and legislated from the bench.

As any school child knows, the freedom of speech is not absolute. You cannot shout "Fire" in a crowded theater intending to create a panic or disturbance. Two mobsters cannot discuss the execution of their boss and get away with it, even if they do not kill him.  And you cannot go up to a stranger in a convincing manner and threaten to punch out his lights.

Every protected freedom has to pass a balancing test.

For over a century, from state houses to the U.S. Congress, there were laws limiting contributions to political campaigns, particularly by corporations.

In this one instance the five justices rewrote over a hundred years of legislation and prior judicial decisions, and with judicial activism that would make the Warren Court blush, plunged our nation into political chaos.

If there is a sliver lining in this dreary cloud, it will be the right wing pundits rationalizing that this is not conservative activism as regarding a  decision that even moderate Republicans despair.

The decision drips with hypocrisy.

Comments

[Marius]

So let's hear it for the six premier dirt bags of the week:
...a newly elected Senator from Massachusetts who offered to auction off his daughters...
...and five hypocritical Supreme Court justices who just auctioned off the nation.

[antpoppa]

January 20, 2010
The beginning of the New Dark Age, the end of intellectualism, replaced by branding and idealism, the end of representative democracy, replaced by corruption and patronage.
To paraphrase John McCain,’we are all Haitians’ now.’
Tomorrow may not belong to us, but we should not be confused by political lament-er, and dancing nay bobs of the media. We should not make society a struggle but to make society a preconceived plan and move on to the next social evolution. Within that plan would be a constitutional definition on the avatar of corporate person hood.

[wondering]

It's important to protect the people from speech that might confuse them.

[Jeff]

I'm about as left-wing as you can possibly get, and I agree with the Supreme Court's decision. The right of the people, whether as individuals or incorporated, to make public, political speed should not be infringed at any time -- either 1 year before an election or 1 day before an election. That's fundamental to democracy.

Frankly, it's quite a stretch to compare political speech with threats or incitement of physical violence. Oh my goodness, some political ad the day before an election might influence an election? Yes, indeed. That's the point of political speech, to influence elections. It's up to the electorate to decide how to respond to the political speech.

It's true that the distribution of wealth in this country is unfair. But that has nothing to do with the first amendment. Don't kill the first amendment, fix the economy instead.

[Marius]

I don't buy it. I believe it's people who get to vote and whose freedom-of-speech needs protection - not incorporated entities.

"The right of the people...incorporated, to make public, political speech..." only flies if those who are "incorporated" (stockholders, union members, etc.) actually have a say and input into what is being said in their name and with their money. (That's the argument that business has long used against labor union politicking.) Try going to a union meeting or a shareholders meeting and telling management how to spend its (your) money.

I agree that "It's true that the distribution of wealth in this country is unfair," but with this court ruling the freedom of "public" political speech wont be protected - it will be steamrolled by the demonstrated and well-documented power of money and those who control it to corrupt democracy.

[Brian (neaguy)]

This would never have happened had Al Gore won his home state in the 2000 election.

Had Gore avoided Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris' criminal rigging of the Florida vote and/or the Supreme Court theft of his rightful victory, the Court would look different and would never have made this stupid, unjust ruling.

[nonheroicvet]

I like public corporations. Especially those whose earnings fund my pension. Although it seems rather patronizing (and matronizing)for corporate management to use my money to influence elections in a way that may not be in my interest, money that could be used to further enhance my pension. It would seem that some corporate managers are playing fast and loose with their fiduciary duties. Can you say class action lawsuit?

[Jeff]

Marius, I don't know about you, but I can't personally afford to finance a documentary film, buy a TV ad, or publish a newspaper. The only way I can get my point of view heard (except in a blog comment) is to join together with other people in some kind of association, whether that's a political party, a charity, a labor union, a corporation, etc. Freedom of speech and freedom of association go hand in hand, you can't have one without the other.

You can go to a labor union meeting or shareholders meeting and tell management how to spend your money. Granted, you may only have one vote, but that's also the case in political elections.

[Ex-pat cheesehead]

Don't forget - the SCOTUS nomination was Bush's reward to John Roberts for helping Bush avoid an actual recount in Florida...

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/21/nation/na-recount21

[Ty O'Mara]

I think everyone should get some of those glue board traps that they use to catch mice because the global-warming naysayers will soon be coming out of the woodwork. This brazen decision by the Supreme Court has the potential to destroy us. Are Supreme Court justices untouchable--unimpeachable?

[antpoppa]

This is what I'm talking about, Willis.

http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org./nike/

[antpoppa]

FYI Jeff
I as far right-wing as you can possibly get..yet I disagree with the S.C. decision!

Aren't you right-wing too Marius?

[Jon]

The decision is especially disgusting when you know that the decision to make Corporations "persons" under the Constitution was the work on one man:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bancroft_Davis

[antpoppa]

Yes Jon
And now whole communities can be created.
(http://www.bivings.com/who-we-are )
The corporate has in the past created whole families of avatar and consensus to flood our lives with lies and research for their product.
Last post.
God, I hate these people.

[nonheroicvet]

Lets draft a bunch of those corporations, give them a rifle and a field pack and send them to Iraq.

[R.J.]

This is great news that should be embraced! Apple, Google, and Ben & Jerry's can fight back against #1 rated and big mouthed FOX News Corporation.

Finally ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, NYT, MSNBC, WaPo, and PBS won't have to carry all the water for the movement.

[Tom Degan]

Are corporations really persons?

Do corporations think?

Do corporations grieve when a loved one dies as a result of a lack of adequate health care?

If a corporation ever committed an unspeakable crime against the American people, could IT be sent to federal prison? (Note the operative word here: "It")

Has a corporation ever given its life for its country?

Has a corporation ever been killed in an accident as the result of a design flaw in the automobile it was driving?

Has a corporation ever written a novel that inspired millions?

Has a corporation ever risked its life by climbing a ladder to save a child from a burning house?

Has a corporation ever won an Oscar? Or an Emmy? Or the Nobel Peace Prize? Or the Pulitzer Prize in Biography?

Has a corporation ever been shot and killed by someone who was using an illegal and unregistered gun?

Has a corporation ever paused to reflect upon the simple beauty of an autumn sunset or a brilliant winter moon rising on the horizon?

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a noise if there are no corporations there to hear it?

Should corporations kiss on the first date?

Our lives - yours and mine - have more worth than any corporation. To say that the Supreme Court made a awful decision on Thursday is an understatement. Not only is it an obscene ruling - it's an insult to our humanity.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

[Ty O'Mara]

Oh, Thomas Paine Degan, you should be on the Supreme Court.

[R.J.]

Why should da unions have to spend all the loot?
I suppose it is time for GE to sell its propaganda tools (NBC, MSNBC).