The City Club of Cleveland

login Create an Account

private events
go

Not a Member?

Our members are champions of free speech. Join today!

join

Account Login

login

Forgot Password? Create an Account

Forgot Password

submit Cancel

Update Password

submit

We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights

Politics & Public Policy

We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights

Friday, October 19, 2018
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Add to Favorites

Share This

"This doesn’t mean that a corporation is like you and me, it means that a corporation has its own independent identity in the eyes of the law." – Adam Winkler

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.

Want to know who is speaking next at the City Club? Sign up here.

Slice 1 Created with Sketch.

Our New Address

1317 Euclid Avenue, Suite 100
Cleveland, Ohio 44115

The City Club of Cleveland building
x

Photo Gallery

1 of 22