John Paladin, Esq., Attorney,
Real Estate Broker, Mortgage Broker

Post Office Box 801777, Valencia, Los Angeles, California 91380, USA
Phone: (661) 255-5000; Toll free: (877) 784-7849; PaladinEsq@AOL.com

U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding campaign finance law

January 21, 2010, Washington, D.C.

In a 5 to 4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to change the law of campaign finance to grant foreign and domestic corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts of money in U. S. elections. Previously this had not been allowed because corporations have a lot of money and they can try to buy elections. (Remember the movie Back To The Future, when Biff had unlimited money and he used it to buy all the politicians? It wasn't good for society or for ordinary human voters ).

Who is to say that the shareholders want to allow the people who run a company to spend unlimited money on political campaigns? ( Answer: 5 justices of the U.S. Supreme Court ). Before the most recent decision ( on 1/21/10 ), U.S. election laws did not allow corporate spending on elections because it could overshadow the rights of individual ( real ) people in political campaigns. Are corporations the same as real people with free speech rights under the constitution? (Answer: 5 justices of the U.S. Supreme Court said so ).

Who knows, maybe some of the U. S. Supreme Court justices don't know that corporations aren't people and are not allowed to hold political office or to vote in elections. But wait, maybe corporations should be allowed to vote in elections because they have free speech rights and they should get something for all that unlimited money which they can spend. Its called special interest lobbying in government. Its called democracy.

To those 5 justices on the U.S. Supreme Court: Guys, corporations are not real people with voting rights in the United States. Corporations should not be granted any speech rights in U.S. elections, and especially not foreign corporations.

John Paladin
February 3, 2010

From HuffingtonPost.com:

"By a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday rolled back restrictions on corporate spending in federal campaigns. The decision could unleash a torrent of corporate-funded attack ads in upcoming elections.

" 'Because speech is an essential mechanism of democracy -- it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people -- political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it by design or inadvertence,' wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority.

"In his dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens accused the majority of judicial activism and attacked the use of corporate personhood in the case: 'The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court's disposition of this case.' "

Read the full article at HuffingtonPost.com:

Supreme Court Rolls Back Campaign Finance Restrictions

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/supreme-court-rolls-back_n_431227.html

Petitions against corporate spending in U. S. elections:

Sherrod Brown | U.S. Senator for Ohio | Official Campaign Website

http://sherrodbrown.com/

People For the American Way: Home

http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepagenew

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From TheOnion.com:

Supreme Court Allows Corporations To Run For Political Office

February 3, 2010 | Issue 46•05

WASHINGTON—In a landmark decision that overturned decades of legal precedent, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 Tuesday to remove all restrictions that had previously barred corporations from holding public office. "This is an unfair, ill-advised, and tragic mistake," Sen. John McCain (R,AZ) said before boarding a flight to Arizona in response to primary poll numbers that show him trailing the Phoenix-based company PetSmart by a double-digit margin. "Despite the deep discounts and exciting promotions that they may be able to offer, these huge, soulless entities are not capable of truly serving the American people's—or their pet's—needs." Corporate attack ads have already begun to hit the airwaves in New York, where a new Pepsi commercial set to a catchy modern remix of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" blasts incumbent governor David Paterson as "unrefreshing" and urges New Yorkers to "taste the choice of a new generation this Nov. 2."