Cell phone industry loses First Amendment challenge to consumer protection law Posted on July 9, 2019 (June 18, 2020) Corporate Abuse of Power On July 2d, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld mandatory consumer safety warnings for cell phones against a corporate First Amendment challenge by the cell phone industry’s lobbying group. For more details on the background of this case, see our blog post from 2015. The following blog post about the newRead More
Constitutional Scholars Weigh in on Exxon’s Flawed First Amendment Claims Posted on October 15, 2018 (October 16, 2018) Exxon–the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company–has come under fire for the dramatic differences between the company’s internal knowledge and assessments of climate change versus how it has communicated that information to investors, consumers, and the public at large. If the reports are borne out by the investigations, this could be the biggestRead More
A Day in the House: Ron Fein and Jasmine Gomez, Free Speech for People Posted on April 28, 2017 (May 2, 2017) State Rep Michael Day is joined by Ron Fein and Jasmine Gomez of Free Speech for People, an organization that works to renew our democracy and our United States Constitution for we the people, not big money and corporate interests. Read More
Apple’s Fight with the FBI is the Corporate Personhood Case of 2016 Posted on March 22, 2016 (November 29, 2018) Legal Director Ron Fein published a piece on Truthout, discussing Apple’s ongoing legal feud with the FBI about unlocking an iPhone belonging to terror suspects and what this means for corporate constitutional rights. Read More
Ron Fein In U.S. News & Report: How Apple Could Best the FBI Posted on February 22, 2016 (October 2, 2018) Ron Fein explains to U.S. News & Report how a 40-year old case about Oklahoma’s drinking age may be a convincing argument for Apple’s refusal to provide access to its consumers’ phone data to the FBI.Read More
Should Corporations Have Constitutional Rights? A Conversation Including John Bonifaz Posted on November 5, 2015 Last week, our President and Co-Founder, John Bonifaz joined by video, a special conversation on corporate claims of constitutional rights at the West Valley Branch of the San Jose Public LibraryRead More
Tim Danahey Show Interviews Ron Fein On Corporate Personhood In IFA v. Seattle Posted on July 30, 2015 (July 30, 2015) On Thursday, July 30, Ron Fein joined the Tim Danahey radio show to discuss our amicus brief in the case, International Franchise Association v. Seattle. In this interview, Fein discusses the era of corporate personhood, the Fourteenth Amendment, and how the International Franchise Association is claiming access and protection by this amendment. Stream the interview after the jump.Read More
Marriage Equality and Corporate Litigation Posted on June 25, 2015 (October 1, 2018) In a new post on The Hill, Legal Director Ron Fein and summer legal intern Danny Gifford explain how developing corporate legal strategy is hijacking the hard-won precedent protecting the LGBTQ community. Read More
FSFP Filed An Amicus Brief in Grocery Manufacturers Association, et. al. v. William H. Sorrell, Attorney General Posted on November 14, 2014 (September 17, 2020) Corporate Abuse of Power Free Speech For People has filed an amicus brief before the federal district court in Vermont in defense of Vermont’s 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 industrialRead More