Corporations are the Roberts Court's favorite people, my friend
Corporations are the Roberts Court's favorite people, my friend
Thank God June is such a slow news month -- OK, yes, that was sarcasm. Judges, juries, politicians, murderers -- they all must have a hell of a July 4 vacation planned, because they can't clear their in-boxes fast enough. They're tossing out guilty verdicts and spending your tax dollars about as fast as it takes to fry an egg on a Philly sidewalk in summer.
No one is racing for the exit faster than the Supremes. What do we make of today's fast and furious (heh) court action, in which the nine justices seemingly made one liberal ruling (barring mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders), one conservative ruling (upholding the Citizens United big-money-in-politics decision) and one mixed ruling, tossing out much of Arizona's loathesome anti immigrant law SB 1070 but not the most loathesome, "papers please" provision?
To me, it's just the Roberts Court being the Roberts Court. On civil liberties issues for individuals -- free speech, for example -- this incarnation of the High Court has an OK record, and the youth imprisonment decision is part of that pattern. But when big corporations ask them how much can they give, ooh, they only answer more, more, more, more. So they strengthen Citizens United, which allows the kleptocracy to keep its stranglehold on the political system.
And don't forget this: Most big corporations actually support what might be called liberal immigration laws, because they covet a source of cheap labor. No one remembers this, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was actually on the same side as the Obama administration in opposing an earlier Arizona anti-imigration law enacted in 2007.
Amazingly, the Chamber of Commerce did lose that case, but that was a rarity indeed:
A partial explanation for this shift could be that the justices have found a different team of elite lawyers they would rather take advice from — America’s top corporate lobbying group. So far this term, the Roberts Court sided with the United States Chamber of Commerce in every single one of the cases where the Chamber expressed a view. Moreover, the Chamber’s win rate for the duration of the Roberts Court closely matches the very high win rate once enjoyed by the Solicitor General. According to the Constitutional Accountability Center, the Chamber’s overall win rate before the Roberts Court is 68 percent, or 60 of 88 cases:
Something else -- thie current Supreme Court is highly political. In three days, the Roberts Court is expected to toss out at least the individual mandate if not more of the President Obama-backed health care law -- ignoring years of precedent and defying every expectation of legal scholars when the law was passed two years ago.
So today's batch of moderate rulings really tees it up for one of most reactionary, political and wrong-headed rulings in American history (though not the worst -- a Joe DiMaggio-like record that will never be broken). Because if you believe that corporations are people, my friend, then the Roberts Court is your kind of place. And John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy are the five best friends a corporation could possibly have.
Hey Will- If Unions are people so are Corporations...— Wiseman6- AFSCME is always one of the top contributors to campaigns, as is AARP. Somehow, I don't think the left minds their money influencing politics.— RG
- "I hope Roberts finds a way to drop dead in the next few months"
Nothing like the Lib hate...LOL!!!!— sarah89 
Comment removed.- This editorial delivered by our favorite left wing looney space alien, Will Bunch...coming down directly from planet Bunchtron in the galaxy Leftlooney.....— kelprod2
- Will, I don't recall the US Chamber of Commerce coming out strongly against the individual mandate. It's biggest objection prior to passage was adding a public option. Even its vociferous opposition since then has been over issues peripheral to the mandate such as perceived regulatory and cost burdens on business. My guess is that SCOTUS will overturn the law as written, but leave the door open for the mandate to be passed as it should have been - a direct tax avoidable by purchasing insurance, as opposed to the other way around. The last thing the Chamber, and thereby SCOTUS, wants in the only other option left - a national single payer system.— montani semper liberi
- This comment has been deleted.— b,ill atkins
- Comment removed.
- Atlas, the irony is there. meanwhile, the big O continues to accept money from Corporations and Unions. the latter being the biggest thugs in US history. I can use hyperbole too. Quit crying. Roberts is very qualified to be on the SC as he was confirmed with ease.— palmyra21
- You really need to get back on your meds Will. Your posts are getting loonier every day.— jimmymack
- You know, Will, "corporations" aren't inherintly evil. Yes there are greedy CEO's, but should we just get rid of all "corporations?" What's your plan?— bobbyd24
- What does POS mean...Point of sale? Down Atlas...down...Good boy.— bannedrepublican
- Another day, another bile.pantload.atkins post about diapers. It's like clockwork.— Talking point sleuth
- "Somehow, I don't think the left minds their money influencing politics." . . . . . . LOL, not at all. We at least know where it's coming from - hardworking average Americans and their retired parents and elders. However, I also recognize that groups like unions are essentially corporations as well, and should be equally treated as such, as they were under the McCain-Feingold rule overturned by Citizens United. Anyone familiar with Citizens United understands it was a compromise decision, not as expansive as many think. It retained the law's disclosure requirements and didn't lift the ban on direct contributions to federal campaigns. It's focus on speech doesn't bother me, inasmuch as it reinforces in my view the narrow construction by the Courts of 'time, place and manner' restrictions on speech. This is after all essentially the same Court that upheld flag-burning as lawful expression. The real problem isn't speech, but the limits of our system for effective dissemination. Leftist
fears will become more and more obsolete as media becomes more diffuse and incapable of being monopolized by only those who can afford it.— montani semper liberi - --snip--
Mitt Romney, March 18, 2012: “He gets full credit or blame for what’s happened in this economy, and what’s happened to gasoline prices under his watch, and what’s happened to our schools, and what’s happened to our military forces. All these things are his responsibility while he’s president.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), April 6, 2012: “The president holds the key to addressing the pain Ohioans are feeling at the gas pump and moving our nation away from its reliance on foreign energy. My question for the president is: what are you waiting for?”
Boehner, April 6, 2012: “The president’s own policies to date have made matters worse and driven up gas prices.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Feb. 28 2012: “This President will go to any length to drive up gas prices and pave the way for his ideological agenda.”
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), March 13, 2012: Obama is “fully responsible for what the American public is paying for gasoline.”
--snip--— Talking point sleuth
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