Shays2/POCLAD Forum on "Corporate Personhood" 9/ 8/ 2009

On September 8th 2009 here in Northampton, a Massachusetts attorney who filed a brief in the case opposing corporate personhood (Jeffrey Clements) and a local attorney (John Bonifaz) with national expertise on the the case participated in a public forum on the key issues.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission on Sept. 9 2009. At issue is whether corporations can claim free speech rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution, according to Clements and Bonifaz.
"The notion that corporations have the same speech rights as people under our Bill of Rights is contrary to the words, history, spirit and intent of our Constitution," said Jeffrey Clements.

Clements filed his Amicus ("friend of the court ") brief for five citizens organizations including: POCLAD, Shays 2, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County, and the Clements Foundation.

"The Citizens United case has little to do with citizens, and everything to do with corporations," he said. "A Supreme Court decision saying that Congress and the States cannot regulate the use of corporate money in elections would be a severe blow to our democracy and to our Constitution. Corporations do not vote, speak, or act as people do, but are products of government policy to achieve economic and charitable ends. As such, corporations should not be allowed to influence our elections if Congress and State governments judge that such influence is detrimental to democracy."

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