Justice James Nelson on the Supreme Court and Williams-Yulee to Salon,”They’re talking out of both sides of their mouth” Posted on May 7, 2015 (June 12, 2015) Salon published today an interview with Justice James Nelson, former Justice of the Montana Supreme Court and Free Speech For People Board member, on the recent Supreme Court decision in Williams-Yulee v. The Florida Bar. Justice Nelson discusses the hypocrisy of the Supreme Court ruling in favor of upholding the integrity of the judiciary, while the Citizens United decision “is allowing vast amounts of money to be poured into judicial races that does to the judiciary exactly what they said shouldn’t happen in Yulee.”Read More
Vermont Prevails In Defense of GMO Labeling Laws, Challenging Corporate First Amendment Claims Posted on April 28, 2015 (May 19, 2015) Vermont has largely prevailed in its defense of Act 120, its recently-passed law requiring the labeling of food produced with genetic engineering. The law requires food sold in Vermont that was produced with genetic engineering to be labeled “produced with genetic engineering.” Major agribusiness and industrial food manufacturers and processors challenged the law in federalRead More
FSFP Welcomes Former Montana Justice James Nelson and Greg Moore of Democracy Initiative To Our Board of Directors Posted on April 7, 2015 (May 19, 2015) We are honored to announce that former Montana Supreme Court Justice James Nelson and voting rights leader Greg Moore have joined our Board of Directors. Read More
Victory! New Hampshire Senate Voted With Bipartisan Support On Bill Calling To Address Citizens United Posted on March 26, 2015 (April 22, 2015) Democracy Amendments The New Hampshire Senate voted unanimously to pass a bill calling for a 28th Amendment to the US Constitution to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC ruling and to reclaim our democracy. Read More
New York Times Article Shines Light On New Scholarship Challenging Claims Of Corporate Constitutional Rights Posted on March 24, 2015 (March 29, 2015) This week, the New York Times featured research by John Coates, a professor at Harvard Law School and a longtime member of Free Speech For People’s Legal Advisory Committee, on “the corporate takeover of the First Amendment.” The research stems from Free Speech For People’s November 2014 symposium at Harvard Law School on “Advancing a New Jurisprudence for American Self-Government and Democracy” (which Professor Coates helped organize). Professor Coates’s paper will be published in the symposium issue for the journal Constitutional Commentary along with other papers from the conference.Read More
Join John Bonifaz This Sunday For A Call On The Trans-Pacific Partnership And Corporate Nationhood Posted on March 20, 2015 (March 29, 2015) Join John Bonifaz, Ben Manski, and Lori Wallach for a special conversation on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), soon to be a “bullet train to corporate nationhood.” Our Co-Founder will highlight recent cases post-Citizens United, where corporations claim constitutional rights to strike down public interest laws. Read More
Decision Reached In Seattle Minimum Wage Case: Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction Posted on March 18, 2015 (April 23, 2015) Last week, lawyers argued in federal district in Seattle whether the city’s new minimum wage violates the equal protection rights of franchised business corporations. Yesterday, the judge denied the preliminary injunction on all claims, including Equal Protection and First Amendment claims. The ruling is an important step in the right direction to end the myth of corporate personhood, and to ensure protection of the rights of ‘we the people.’Read More
Free Speech For People Joins In Filing Appeal Brief In Noel v. Board of Election Commissioners Posted on March 18, 2015 (September 16, 2020) Corporate Abuse of Power Free Speech For People joined the legal team defending the Take Back St. Louis ballot initiative campaign. This ballot initiative, which would amend the city charter of St. Louis (Missouri) to prevent the city from granting tax breaks to fossil fuel and nuclear mining companies, was challenged in court before the ballots were printed. At the preliminary injunction stage, the judge (citing Citizens United) found that the initiative would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as state law. Read More
Minimum Wage Under Fire In Seattle: Our Local Counsel Reports On IFA v. Seattle Posted on March 14, 2015 (April 17, 2015) This past Tuesday, lawyers argued in federal district court in Seattle whether the city’s new minimum wage violates the equal protection rights of franchised business corporations. Free Speech For People filed an amicus brief in support of the city, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause protects people, not corporations, and in particular that living wages were a central concern of the Fourteenth Amendment’s drafters. Our local counsel in Seattle, Harry Williams, attended the oral argument and submits this report.Read More
Our Model Corporate Charter Revocation Act Posted on March 13, 2015 (June 3, 2020) Corporate Abuse of Power What is corporate charter revocation? Corporations are created by state law when the state government issues a corporate charter. A corporate charter provides special benefits that are not available to citizens, such as limited liability and perpetual life. In general, grant of these privileges through a corporate charter serves the public interest because corporations promoteRead More