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Occupy New Hampshire Member on His Exchange With Mitt Romney Over Support for Corporate Personhood

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 06 (News Report) - Occupy New Hampshire activist Mark Provost made national headlines Wednesday when he attended a town hall meeting hosted by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and asked about his past comment that "corporations are people." Provost's question to Romney came Occupy New Hampshire is preparing for a series of events leading up to the state’s Republican primary to highlight the disproportionate impact corporations and wealthy donors have on the political process. We play an excerpt of the town-hall exchange and get Provost's response to Romney reply. "I think his response, really, again is this denial that there's this class in the country, and that there are some people within the corporation — specifically, the workers — that are taking it on the chin so that the United States' executive management can make massive bonuses and serve their shareholders rather well too, because the profits largely go to capital gains and dividends." [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Citizens United Backlash Grows From Cali. to NYC Urging Congress to Overturn Corporate Personhood

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 05 (News Report) - Adding to a growing nationwide backlash against the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, California lawmakers have introduced a resolution that calls on Congress to "propose and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United." The New York City Council has just passed a similar resolution, echoing measures passed in Los Angeles, Oakland, Albany and Boulder. We speak to Public Citizen President Robert Weissman; California Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, who introduced the state's Citizens United resolution; and New York City Councilmember and measure co-sponsor Melissa Mark-Viverito. "I think it taps into the sentiment we're seeing around the country regarding Occupy Wall Street, where people really feel that government is disconnected from the vast majority of the population... because of [corporate] influence," Mark-Viverito says. [Rush transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Chief Justice Roberts' Defense Doesn't Persuade Court Critics

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Mike Sacks - Jan. 05 (News Report) - Chief Justice John Roberts used his annual year-end report to defend his colleagues' integrity, but that defense did not move prominent critics clamoring for the justices to abide by the same ethical rules as other federal judges do.

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Super PAC Disclosure Requirements Hot Topic Of Conversation Among GOP Candidates

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sam Stein - Jan. 05 (News Report) - The rapid rise and far-reaching impact of super PACs -- the well-financed non-party groups that helped carry former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to victory in the Iowa caucuses -- have persuaded some prominent Republicans that restrictions of some sort on the groups' activities may be in order.

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Newt Gingrich's Campaign Resurgence Funded by Secretive Coterie of Super PACs, Wealthy Backers

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Dec. 23 (News Report) - the Center for Public Integrity has published new details on how Gingrich has the backing of two so-called super PACs that raise unlimited donations, but legally must operate independently of the campaign. We speak with Peter Stone, a reporter with Center for Public Integrity who has covered lobbying and campaign finance issues for the past two decades, and McClatchy investigative reporter Greg Gordon.

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Sanders Files "Saving American Democracy Amendment'

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Op Ed News - Dec. 11 (News) - The first constitutional amendment ever proposed by Sanders during his two decades in Congress would reverse the narrow 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission. In that controversial decision almost two years ago, justices gave corporations the same First Amendment free-speech rights as people.

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The Real History of 'Corporate Personhood': Meet the Man to Blame for Corporations Having More Rights Than You |

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Jeffrey Clement - Dec. 08 (Special Report) - In 1971, Lewis Powell, a mild-mannered, courtly, and shrewd corporate lawyer in Richmond, Virginia, soon to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court, wrote a memorandum to his client, the United States Chamber of Commerce. He outlined a critique and a plan that changed America.

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Scalia and Thomas Dine With Healthcare Law Challengers

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By James Oliphant - Nov. 15 (News Report) - The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama's healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the case before the high court.' James Oliphant, Los Angeles Times

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"Corporations Are Not People": Activists Push Amendment to Revoke "Corporate Personhood"

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 09 (News Report) - After an Election Day that saw a number of wins for progressive causes nationwide, activists opposed to "corporate personhood" — the notion that corporations have equal rights to individuals — are pushing ahead with a campaign to add a twenty-eighth amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would reject the idea that corporations are people and reverse the 2010 landmark case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In a 5-to-4 vote, the Court ruled corporations have First Amendment rights and that the government cannot impose restrictions on their political speech — clearing the way for corporations and other special interest groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections. We speak to John Bonifaz, a constitutional attorney and co-founder and director of Free Speech for People. [Rush transcript to come. Please check back soon.]

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Justices Rely On 'Standing' To Dismiss Church-State Disputes

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Adelle M. Banks - Jun. 30 (News Analysis) - As the U.S. Supreme Court ends its 2010-2011 term this week, legal scholars say a decision issued two months ago is likely to resonate within church-state debates for years to come.

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Supreme Court OK With Violent Video Games; Porn Still Illegal (for Minors)

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Sarah Jaffe - Jun. 29 (News Analysis) - Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association isn't just about video games. Within the decision, concurring opinion, and two dissents lie a host of issues, from whether pornography is really worse than depictions of violence to whether minors have any free speech rights at all (Clarence Thomas says, essentially, no). There's a discussion of whether the inherent interactive nature of games makes them different from previous media, and an acknowledgement that every medium before has produced a similar panic.

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Supreme Court's Latest Sabotage of Democratic Process -- Are Only Wealthy Corporations Supposed to Have a Say in Our Government?

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steven Rosenfeld - Jun. 28 (News Analysis) - The idea behind public financing was to create a new way for ordinary people to run for office without spending two-thirds of their day on the phone begging for money from the small slice of Americans who donate to campaigns; and, if elected, to ensure that the candidate would not be unduly beholden or obligated to their donors¹ priorities. In other words, public financing lessened the prospect for corruption and heightened the possibility elected officials might better-represent average Americans.

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Restricting Choice

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AU.org - By Sandhya Bathija - Jun. 09 (News Report) - In March, Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed a measure that requires women to consult with a “crisis pregnancy center” (CPC) and wait at least 72 hours before going forward with a pregnancy termination. According to Sedor and other reproductive justice and civil liberties groups, the law is the equivalent of an all-out state abortion ban. Already, access to the procedure was extremely limited within the state, she said.

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More Than A Minor Hero

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AU.org - By Rob Boston - Jun. 09 (Special Report) - Torcaso persisted, taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fifty years ago this month, his tenacity paid off when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Torcaso’s favor. The decision in Torcaso v. Watkins, handed down on June 19, 1961, is short – it’s only 12 paragraphs – but Justice Hugo Black’s language is a ringing reaffirmation of religious liberty and church-state separation.

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Access Denied

Fri, 06 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AU.org - By Sandhya Bathija - May. 06 (News Report) - The U.S. Supreme Court has issued an opinion that will make it a lot easier for the government to subsidize religion. The justices, in a 5-4 decision on April 4, ruled that taxpayers have no inherent right to go to court to challenge tax credits that support religious schools.

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Koch Brothers Caught Telling 50,000 Employees How to Vote

Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - Apr. 21 (News Report) - The Nation magazine has revealed that Koch Industries sent a letter to most of its 50,000 employees on the eve of the November elections, advising them on whom to vote for and warning them of the dire consequences should they choose to vote otherwise. As a result of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling last year, Koch Industries and other corporations are now legally allowed to pressure their workers to adopt their political views. Koch Industries is run by the billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch, who have helped bankroll the Tea Party movement and dozens of other right-wing causes, including the recent attacks on public sector employees and unions going on in many states.

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The Big Three secret funders of the $75 million campaign to trash Democratic candidates

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Hightower Lowdown - By Jim Hightower - Apr. 15 (Investigative Report) - It's unlikely that you have heard of a novel entitled Alpaca, but it was a remarkably portentous piece of political writing by one of America's first billionaires, Dallas oilman H. L. Hunt. Self-published in 1960, the 191-page book laid out his vision of

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Justice for Betty Dukes and the Women of Wal-Mart?

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Liza Featherstone - Mar. 31 (News Report) - Dukes, who still works at Wal-Mart, is the lead plaintiff in Betty Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores, the largest civil rights class action suit in history, which accuses the retail giant of sex discrimination in pay, promotions and hiring. The potential class has at times included more than a million women (recently, though, estimates have run closer to the hundreds of thousands). Dukes and her colleagues have yet to have their day in court, all these years later, and if an army of right-wing opponents has its way, they never will.

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Will the Supreme Court Prevent Citizens United From Being Fixed?

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Doug Kendall - Mar. 26 (News Analysis) - Will the Court that permitted the injection of unlimited corporate expenditures into our election process now prevent one of the best ways to ensure candidates without corporate backing have a fighting chance? We'll soon know.

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Big Oil Lobby Will Donate Directly to Candidates

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Pat Garofalo - Feb. 25 (News Report) - The American Petroleum Institute, the Big Oil industry’s chief lobbying organization, will start directly backing political candidates in the second quarter of this year. API, whose membership includes oil giants like Exxon-Mobil and Chevron, already spends tens of millions of dollars every year on lobbying, advertisements and Astroturf campaigns to support the the oil industry agenda.

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Clarence Thomas Is Trying to Get Away With a Felony

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By RogerShuler - Feb. 14 (News Analysis) - 'Many news outlets that have reported on US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to disclose his wife's income are portraying the allegations as, at most, a misdemeanor. But new reports suggest that Thomas' actions would amount to a felony if proven in a court of law.' Roger Shuler, Firedoglake

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Alito, Thomas Headlined Political Fundraisers Chaired By Leading Right-Wing Donor Paul Singer

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - Jan. 26 (News Report) - The Manhattan Institute, funded by major corporations like CIGNA, Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, is a conservative think tank in New York that produces right-wing policy papers as well as sponsoring speeches for judges and Republican politicians. In 2008, Justice Thomas headlined the Manhattan Institute’s Wriston Lecture; last October, Justice Alito was the headline speaker for the same event. According to the Manhattan Institute’s website, an individual must contribute between $5,000 to $25,000 to attend the Wriston Lecture. “To be invited to the Wriston Lecture,” Debbie Ezzard, a development official at the Manhattan Institute told ThinkProgress, “you have to give $5,000.”

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Scalia and Thomas' Retreat With Koch

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

readersupportednews.org - By Eric Lichtblau - Jan. 21 (News Report) - A leading liberal group is now trying to use that connection to argue that Mr. Scalia and Mr. Thomas should disqualify themselves from hearing campaign finance cases because they may be biased toward Mr. Koch, a billionaire who has been a major player in financing conservative causes. The group, Common Cause, filed a petition with the Justice Department on Wednesday asking it to investigate potential conflicts by Justices Scalia and Thomas and move for their disqualification from the landmark Citizens United case, in which the court last year lifted a ban on corporate spending on political campaigns.

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On Anniversary of Citizens United Ruling, Common Cause Calls on Justice Dept. to Investigate Scalia and Thomas Over Conflicts of Interest

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Jan. 21 (News Report) - Today marks the one-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, _Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission_ that opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending on election campaigns. We speak with Bob Edgar, the president of Common Cause, which has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Justice urging it to investigate whether Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have recused themselves from the case last year because of a conflict of interest.

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Following the Money a Year After Citizens United

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Miller-McCune - By Emily Badger - Jan. 20 (Special Report) - Observers thought heaps of anonymous cash would flood U.S. campaign coffers after the controversial Supreme Court decision. They were right.

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