This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Supreme Court seems to have lost its way and has become confused about the nature and status of corporations. To clarify the place of corporations in society, I offer this clarification of their status:
We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity, hereby declare:
Corporations are not people. Corporations are not citizens of this great nation. Corporations have no intrinsic rights. Corporations are a construct solely devised allow the conduct of business in a limited liability manner. They have no souls. They cannot procreate. They do not die.
Any interference in political matters by a corporation is patently self serving and is hereby declared illegal. Campaign contributions and other attempts to influence legislation is considered interference and is illegal. Corporations do not have religious rights under the constitution. Religious rights are reserved for mortal people.
Corporations are not people. Corporations do not have rights as expressed in the constitution nor do corporations have rights as expressed in the bill of rights.
Perhaps our Constitution should be amended to clarify the subservience of corporations to real live citizens.
Paul Moore
Salt Lake City