Corporations Are People Too: (And They Should Act Like It)

by Kent Greenfield

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300240801
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	10/23/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	660 KB

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 In Defense of Corporate Persons 1

2 Corporations and the "Damn Public" 29

3 Should Corporations Have Rights? 59

4 Corporations and Fundamental Rights, Equality, and Religion 82

5 Corporations and Speech Theory 101

6 Speech and Corporate Purpose 134

7 More Personhood, Please 171

8 Six Bad Arguments for Shareholder Primacy 186

9 The Promise of Corporate Personhood 208

Postscript Making Corporations Citizens 224

Notes 227

Acknowledgments 267

Index 271

Editorial Reviews

10/29/2018
In this dense but worthy analysis, law professor and media commentator Greenfield prescribes a new paradigm for applying constitutional law to corporations, which rejects both the left’s movement to strip corporations’ constitutional protections and the right’s aversion to more rigorous governmental regulation of their activities. In short: if individual citizens can be both protected and regulated by the Constitution, why should corporations, said to have personhood too, have the protections without obligation? Greenfield’s analysis is novel and includes a discussion of controversial Supreme Court decisions related to corporate rights, specifically Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which concerned the religious rights of corporate shareholders, and Citizens United v. FEC, which applied the First Amendment to corporate political contributions. Greenfield argues that the current legal framework applied to corporate governance meaningfully threatens democracy because it “devalues the contributions of most Americans” and limits their political influence. He proposes abandoning corporate governance theories in which only shareholders’ economic gain matters and including other entities, such as employees and the communities in which corporations operate, in the group of stakeholders whose interests need to be considered in corporate decision-making. Some readers may find Greenfield’s proposals radical, but his attempt to balance the economic well-being of corporations and the interests of society at large is worth reading. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"A must read. Greenfield is one of the very few law professors in America with a serious background in both constitutional and corporate law, and his double expertise is reflected in almost every chapter."—Eric Segall, Dorf on Law

"A subtle, creative and intellectually brave assessment of the nature of corporate personhood and the legal and policy results—constitutional and otherwise— that follow from that assessment. Greenfield offers thoughtful and often original views on topics ranging from the degree of First Amendment protection that corporations should receive to the nature of corporate behavior that shareholders and the broader public should come to expect."—Floyd Abrams, author of The Soul of the First Amendment

“In a lively and very readable book, Greenfield makes the case that corporations must have many, if not all, the  constitutional rights that people have.”— Paul Smith, Georgetown University Law Center

“Professor Kent Greenfield has written a brilliant book on the role of corporations in American democracy. Greenfield gets us past the discussion of whether corporations should be regarded as persons and focuses on how they should be treated under the law. The book is provocative, original, and engaging and sure to be essential reading in grappling with the role of corporations in our political system.”—Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law

From the Publisher

Professor Kent Greenfield has written a brilliant book on the role of corporations in American democracy. Greenfield gets us past the discussion of whether corporations should be regarded as persons and focuses on how they should be treated under the law. The book is provocative, original, and engaging and sure to be essential reading in grappling with the role of corporations in our political system.”—Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
 

Erwin Chemerinsky

In a lively and very readable book, Greenfield makes the case that corporations must have many, if not all, the  constitutional rights that people have.”— Paul Smith, Georgetown University Law Center

Paul Smith

"A subtle, creative and intellectually brave assessment of the nature of corporate personhood and the legal and policy results—constitutional and otherwise— that follow from that assessment. Addressing topics that have led to continuing and sometimes overheated public conflict, Professor Greenfield offers thoughtful and often original views on topics ranging from the degree of First Amendment protection that corporations should receive to the nature of corporate behavior that shareholders and the broader public should come to expect."—Floyd Abrams, author of The Soul of the First Amendment

Floyd Abrams