HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Corporations and the First Amendment: Free Speech Rules (Episode 6)

Views:1055
@ReasonVids

Here are five rules of free speech and corporations. 

Rule #1: Corporations have First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court's first decision protecting individuals' free expression rights came in 1931. Its first decision protecting a corporation's free expression rights came just five years later, in 1936. That decision involved a newspaper corporation; but the Court's first decision protecting a nonmedia business corporation's free expression rights came five years after that, in 1941. From the 1950s onwards, many Court decisions protected for-profit corporations. Indeed, the very first American court decision striking down a state statute on free speech grounds took place in 1894, and it protected the rights of a corporation.

When the Supreme Court split sharply over corporate speech in the 2010 Citizens United case, no-one doubted that the First Amendment protects corporations generally; the question was whether there was an exception for corporate speech supporting or opposing political candidates.

Why is this so? Partly because corporations are, after all, made up of people. If the government takes a corporation's property, that doesn't hurt the "corporation" in some abstract sense—it hurts the corporation's stockholders. If the government stops The New York Times Co. from criticizing the President, that restricts the First Amendment rights of editors at The New York Times. 

Rule #2: The media doesn't have any greater First Amendment rights than other speakers. The "freedom of the press" isn't the freedom of a business category called "the press." It has been understood, since the 1700s, as the freedom of all to use the printing press (and its technological heirs). There are some statutes that give institutional media special additional rights beyond what the First Amendment gives them—but the Constitution doesn't distinguish reporters from bloggers, or media businesses from other businesses.

This means that the First Amendment protects General Motors and Walmart as much as it protects The New York Times or CNN or The New Republic. If GM's corporate speech could be restricted, then the New York Times' speech could be, too. And because The New York Times' speech can't be restricted, then neither can GM's.

This, by the way, means that First Amendment law doesn't have to decide who is media and who isn't. Is Google media? How about Amazon, which sells electronics, sells books, and makes movies? The Supreme Court doesn't have to decide, because all corporations have First Amendment rights, regardless of whether they are "media."

Rule #3: Unions have free speech rights, too. Citizens United struck down a federal law that banned both corporations and unions from speaking out for or against political candidates.

Rule #4: Individual stockholders can't veto corporations' political spending—whether those corporations publish newspapers or make widgets. Generally speaking, American corporations are run on a majority-of-shares-rules basis; individual objectors can generally sell their stock, but they can't order managers around.

That's a familiar rule for all sorts of spending. If you don't like Ben & Jerry's liberal messages, you don't have to buy their ice cream. But you can't just buy a share and then demand that they stop saying things that you, as a minority stockholder, dislike. Likewise, if you don't like a company's charitable contributions, or the tone of its advertising, or its speech opposing unionization, you can't stop such corporate action even if you own shares. And you can't control The New York Times' editorial policy even if you are a stockholder.

The same is true for spending about political candidates. If a corporation wants to endorse a candidate, dissenting shareholders can't stop that any more than they can stop any of the corporation's other action or speech.

Rule #5:  Corporate and union direct contributions to candidate campaigns can be sharply limited, though independent spending is fully protected. The rationale for this is complicated, but basically direct contributions of money to candidates, whether by corporations or individuals, are less constitutionally protected than speech (including expensive speech) by those corporations or individuals.

Written by Eugene Volokh, who is a First Amendment law professor at UCLA.
Produced and edited by Austin Bragg, who is not.
Additional graphics by Joshua Swain.

This is the fifth episode of Free Speech Rules, a video series on free speech and the law. Volokh is the co-founder of The Volokh Conspiracy, a blog hosted at Reason.com.

This is not legal advice.
If this were legal advice, it would be followed by a bill.
Please use responsibly.

-----

Music: "Lobby Time," by Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
    Thumbnail for Trump Is Terrible on Trade. Top 2020 Dems Are No Better.4:10
    Trump Is Terrible on Trade. Top 2020 Dems Are No Better.
    ReasonVids
    982 views
    Thumbnail for Future of Flight: NYC to London in 3 Hours6:20
    Future of Flight: NYC to London in 3 Hours
    ReasonVids
    1074 views
    Thumbnail for A Lonely Veigar Tries Mid Instead of Bott?? - STRONG **IRON** GAMEPLAY | shadypenguinn2:03:35
    A Lonely Veigar Tries Mid Instead of Bott?? - STRONG **IRON** GAMEPLAY | shadypenguinn
    invidious
    212 views
    Thumbnail for Reason-Rupe Poll on Fixing California, Prop 30 and Rolling Back State Spending2:03
    Reason-Rupe Poll on Fixing California, Prop 30 and Rolling Back State Spending
    ReasonVids
    922 views
    Thumbnail for Whites ain't got no culture1:25
    Whites ain't got no culture
    bestofupgoat
    223 views
    Thumbnail for Students Are Bringing Capitalism to Latin America6:43
    Students Are Bringing Capitalism to Latin America
    ReasonVids
    950 views
    Thumbnail for Obamacare, Gov't Insurance Exchanges, & The Coming Price Explosion4:30
    Obamacare, Gov't Insurance Exchanges, & The Coming Price Explosion
    ReasonVids
    1078 views
    Thumbnail for RE-LIVE | AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ Indonesia 2026 Qualifiers Draw | AFC Asian Cup28:16
    RE-LIVE | AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ Indonesia 2026 Qualifiers Draw | AFC Asian Cup
    invidious
    52 views
    Thumbnail for Mark Hamill vs. Autographed Memorabilia: The Revenge of the Dark Side7:14
    Mark Hamill vs. Autographed Memorabilia: The Revenge of the Dark Side
    ReasonVids
    931 views
    Thumbnail for How Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter’s Volatility Sway Elon Musk’s Net Worth | WSJ | Wall Street Journal6:49
    How Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter’s Volatility Sway Elon Musk’s Net Worth | WSJ | Wall Street Journal
    invidious
    482 views
    Thumbnail for 'Trump is Toast & Clinton is a Hypocrite’: Gary Johnson Reacts to the Final Debate2:56
    'Trump is Toast & Clinton is a Hypocrite’: Gary Johnson Reacts to the Final Debate
    ReasonVids
    991 views
    Thumbnail for Summer Chillout 2024 ☀️ 24/7 Live Radio 🏖️ Ibiza Summer Mix 🌴 Best Tropical Deep Lounge House Music | We Are Diamond1:00
    Summer Chillout 2024 ☀️ 24/7 Live Radio 🏖️ Ibiza Summer Mix 🌴 Best Tropical Deep Lounge House Music | We Are Diamond
    invidious
    286 views
    Thumbnail for Federal agents swarm apartment complexes in targeted raids across Denver metro area | ABC News0:27
    Federal agents swarm apartment complexes in targeted raids across Denver metro area | ABC News
    invidious
    149 views
    Thumbnail for Remy: Affluenflammation (Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication Parody)2:43
    Remy: Affluenflammation (Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication Parody)
    ReasonVids
    1061 views
    Thumbnail for Steel Magnolias | YouTube Movies1:58:16
    Steel Magnolias | YouTube Movies
    invidious
    119 views
    Thumbnail for Jason Plays with Squishy Balls | Jason Vlogs3:01
    Jason Plays with Squishy Balls | Jason Vlogs
    invidious
    344 views
    Thumbnail for The Case for Cameras in the Supreme Court3:39
    The Case for Cameras in the Supreme Court
    ReasonVids
    851 views
    Thumbnail for Moving jews to Israel0:44
    Moving jews to Israel
    bestofvoatxyz
    2318 views
    Thumbnail for Self Balancing ONE-Wheel Electric Scooter, Unicycle - REVIEW (4K) | AuthenTech - Ben Schmanke4:16
    Self Balancing ONE-Wheel Electric Scooter, Unicycle - REVIEW (4K) | AuthenTech - Ben Schmanke
    invidious
    486 views
    Thumbnail for Commiefornia mayor chimps out in meeting with a resident who called for an investigation, asks him “you want to go outside?”3:10
    Commiefornia mayor chimps out in meeting with a resident who called for an investigation, asks him “you want to go outside?”
    AOUisgay
    567 views
    Thumbnail for Wike Is A Wikipedia Reader With Some Great Features | DistroTube8:28
    Wike Is A Wikipedia Reader With Some Great Features | DistroTube
    invidious
    519 views
    Thumbnail for Guy buys house and finds jewish tunnels underneath it. I wonder how many kids in that area and surrounding area went missing over the years?1:00
    Guy buys house and finds jewish tunnels underneath it. I wonder how many kids in that area and surrounding area went missing over the years?
    bestofupgoat
    333 views
    Thumbnail for Sitting Bull gets owned.2:04
    Sitting Bull gets owned.
    bestofvoatxyz
    962 views
    Thumbnail for Drumming Horse Man Versus Girl Goat0:42
    Drumming Horse Man Versus Girl Goat
    bestofvoatxyz
    554 views
    Thumbnail for World’s most expensive app 😭 | John Casterline0:35
    World’s most expensive app 😭 | John Casterline
    invidious
    153 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle