Companies in America have gotten away with almost anything by claiming First Amendment rights. Well, that is about to change. CEOs of companies won’t be able to hide behind the corporate shield anymore and push their agenda.
On September 16th, the Fifth Circuit overruled the decision of a district court in Texas in a major corporate First Amendment case. The district court had sided with the defendants – trade associations of tech companies – that tech platforms can do anything they wish. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed. The decision pretty much rejects that corporations could have that kind of wild First Amendment protection.
The question is what will happen next. There are two likely scenarios: 1) Supreme Court declines to take the case 2) Supreme Court takes the case. The likelihood of the first one is high but since this case is also an opportunity to clarify and curtail a corporation’s power, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Writ of Certiorari is granted. If it does, the decision will be lengthy. It will clarify corporate speech.
My view is that corporations are not people. They are entities, not natural persons with blood and soul. Hence they should not have the same level of speech protection as humans. If corporations keep getting the expansive definition of natural persons, only the rich with hundreds of corporations would have all the controls. In fact, we are already facing the unintended consequences of such an expansive definition.
Corporations should have rights though; especially liability protection rights, and the right to conduct business. We can’t entertain the idea of corporations as people. Would someone like corporations to vote in elections too?