Leave it to Stephen Colbert to sum up the plight of corporations and their fight for the right to be considered fellow humans perfectly: “They do everything people do except, breath, die and go to jail for dumping 1.3 million pounds of PCBs in the Hudson River.”
For those of you who have followed along in this blog about the Citizens United v FEC case before the Supreme Court, you already know how scary it is to think what might happen if the justices decide to overturn 100 years of campaign finance protections and allow corporations to pump unlimited cash into our elections. On last night’s show, Colbert broke down the absurdities of the case: “Corporations have free speech but they can’t speak like you and me. They don’t have mouths or hands. Instead, they must speak with the only way they can — through billions and billions of dollars.”
Later, he and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin discussed how a casual “off the record” comment by the chief justice in 1886 was mistakenly recorded by the court reporter and turned into the legal precedent that corporations have the rights of people.
Learn more about this case and what you can do to make your voice heard at Dontgetrolled.org.
[...] Want to learn more? Check out the Q&A with Public Citizen’s Scott Nelson, an attorney representing members of Congress who are committed to reining in corporate influence. Or for some comic relief in the form of hysterical satire, watch Stephen Colbert riff on Citizens United. [...]