Corporations Are People Too

Kent Greenfield

Published by Yale University Press 2018

Corporations Are People Too

(And They Should Act Like It)

Kent Greenfield

https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300240801

Overview
Contents

About this book

Why we’re better off treating corporations as people under the law—and making them behave like citizens

Are corporations people? The U.S. Supreme Court launched a heated debate when it ruled in Citizens United that corporations can claim the same free speech rights as humans. Should corporations be able to claim rights of free speech, religious conscience, and due process? Kent Greenfield provides an answer: Sometimes.

With an analysis sure to challenge the assumptions of both progressives and conservatives, Greenfield explores corporations' claims to constitutional rights and the foundational conflicts about their obligations in society. He argues that a blanket opposition to corporate personhood is misguided, since it is consistent with both the purpose of corporations and the Constitution itself that corporations can claim rights at least some of the time. The problem with Citizens United is not that corporations have a right to speak, but for whom they speak. The solution is not to end corporate personhood but to require corporations to act more like citizens.

Author information

GreenfieldKent:

Kent Greenfield is a law professor at Boston College, a former Supreme Court clerk, and an expert in constitutional and corporate law. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and on CNN. He lives in Cambridge, MA.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
ONE. In Defense of Corporate Persons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
TWO. Corporations and the “Damn Public” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
THREE. Should Corporations Have Rights? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
FOUR. Corporations and Fundamental Rights, Equality, and Religion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
FIVE. Corporations and Speech Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
SIX. Speech and Corporate Purpose Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
SEVEN. More Personhood, Please Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
EIGHT. Six Bad Arguments for Shareholder Primacy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
NINE. The Promise of Corporate Personhood Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
POSTSCRIPT. Making Corporations Citizens Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271

Language: English
Publisher: Yale University Press
Pages
- Main content: 288

eBook

Published: October 23, 2018
ISBN: 9780300240801