Corporations, Democracy and Personhood

In 1990 the number of people who understood that corporations are legal persons, often given human rights by the U.S. Supreme Court, were very few. Following the Citizens United ruling in 2010, it seems that everyone wants to talk about campaign finance reform and its relationship to corporate personhood. The materials presented here were developed by a small group of activists in the around the year 2000 to help explain the problem to other activists and citizens.

Corporations are property; they are things that can be bought and sold. Yet in the U.S. political system and in our courts the owners of corporations have gained great advantage over ordinary (not-wealthy) people by having the courts act as if corporations have rights under the U.S. Constitution. This was originally asserted as part of a doctrine known as corporate personhood.

Many organizations are now working to put corporations back in the box where such things belong: just plain property, with no human rights. On this page you can find a variety of resources to educate yourself about corporate constitutional rights and how they relate to issues like trade, the environment, campaign finance reform, and the rights of real people.

Abolish Corporate Personhood by Molly Morgan and Jan Edwards. This is a great brief introduction.

Santa Clara Blues (Corporate Personhood v. Democracy) by William P. Meyers. This is a pamphlet-sized introduction that covers the basics of history, law, and impact on on our lives, first published in November, 2000.

Gangs of America by Ted Nace. This book covers the history of corporate rule in the United States including issues of corporate constitutional rights.

Corporate Personhood Timeline by Jan Edwards. This timeline shows both when corporations and when real people were given constitutional rights. Corporations were recognized as people before women were, for example!

Corporate Personhood and the "Right" to Harm the Environment by Jan Edwards and Alis Valencia. How corporations use personhood rights to legally justify their destruction of the environment.

Point Arena Resolution on Corporate Personhood by the people of Point Arena, California, passed April 25, 2000.

Berkeley, CA, Resolution on Corporate Constitutional Rights.

Resolution of the City Council of Arcata (CA) Regarding Corporate Personhood