Three recent Supreme Court decisions, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., and Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, have bought the issue of corporate rights to the forefront of our national consciousness. Through all three decisions, corporations were deemed to have the same rights as individual persons as outlined in the Constitution, including the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the freedom to spend money on elections and on advocating for political issues.
How did we get here? UCLA Law Professor Adam Winkler argues in his new book, We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, that corporations have been advocating for their civil rights since the ratification of the Constitution - decades before women and African-Americans - utilizing some of the same tactics as individuals: civil disobedience and the American legal system.
Join us as Winkler discusses his book, the evolution of the corporate "civil rights" movement, and the implications for our democracy in the 21st century.