Corporations Have All the Rights

When conservatives praise the virtues of "small business," they aren't talking about your small engine repair business or your organic truck garden. They mean big corporations, and only big corporations.

Wonkette:

How convenient for big companies that they essentially have a member of the board sitting on the bench. Clearly it was not fair that they only had two branches of government to themselves; since they are now people, it’s only right that they capture the third branch.

But if you are not an Incorporated American, is it a big deal that the bench is filled with a bunch of little Alex P. Keaton* clones? Yes. Yes it is. Tell us more, Liz:

Data on the Supreme Court in recent years shows a heavy pro-corporate tilt. The five conservative justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court are in the top ten most pro-business justices in a half century –  and Justices Alito and Roberts are numbers one and two –  the most pro-business.  Or take a look at the win rate of the Chamber of Commerce. According to the Constitutional Accountability Center the Chamber moved from a 43% win-rate during the last five terms of the Burger Court, to a 56% win-rate under the very conservative Rehnquist court, and they are now at a 70% win rate with the Roberts Court.  Follow this pro-business trend to its logical conclusion, and sooner or later you’ll end up with a Supreme Court that functions as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chamber of Commerce.

Silly us! We thought it already WAS sooner than later. But apparently it can get worse, so that’s good to know. OK, so the bad news is that the court, like the legislative branch, has been bought and sold to Incorporated Americans. You might be wondering just where is the Nice Time in this confirmation that we are in thrall to our corporate overlords? Here is the Nice Time: We have Elizabeth Warren on our side, and she is happy to fight ALL OF THE BRANCHES if need be.

 Think Progress has the details.