Theo’s Pub

The unassailable concept and practice of “one man, one vote”, given teeth by the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment requires that corporations not have the right to vote or the protection of the Bill of Rights. To give a corporation rights is to give them to the stockholders. So a stockholder in a corporation has his rights as a citizen under equal protection and his rights as a voting member of a corporation. This is one man, more than one vote, and violates the equal protection rights of the non-stockholder by giving more power to the corporate shareholder, thereby undermining the foundation of democracy.

While Justice Alito may like this unfair advantage given to the affluent, it disenfranchises the American voter who lacks the means to own corporate wealth. So why does Alito want corporations to have free speech?

“When Samuel Alito Jr. applied for a top job in the Reagan Justice Department, he explained what had attracted him to constitutional law as a college student. He was motivated, he said, “in large part by disagreement with Warren Court decisions, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure, the Establishment Clause, and reapportionment.” The reapportionment cases that so upset young Mr. Alito were a series of landmark decisions that established a principle that is now a cornerstone of American democracy: one person one vote.” — Adam Cohen, The New York Times, January 3, 2006