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New York Times endorses First Amendment right for corporations (but only in defense of terrorists)
Published on February 23, 2010
Category: First Amendment
Corporations, we are regularly told by the so-called campaign finance "reform" community, are not people, and therefore do not enjoy First Amendment protections. In the wake of Citizens United, the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments from "reformers" has grown to hysterical levels.
The New York Times has been among those leading the mob chanting "corporations aren't people," noting in their initial editorial response to the Citizens United decision that "Most wrongheaded of all is [the Court's] insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights."
Today the Times appears to reverse course on the First Amendment rights of corporations, although it's unlikely it realizes it has done so. From today's New York Times:
On Tuesday, the [Supreme C]ourt hears arguments in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project. The Humanitarian Law Project... want[s] to provide training in peaceful dispute resolution to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has waged a separatist guerrilla campaign against the Turkish government, and to advise the group on how to petition the United Nations and other international organizations for relief...
The Kurdish group...[is] designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the United States, and the plaintiffs fear they could be prosecuted under the federal material support law and sentenced to as much as 15 years in prison.
The law prohibits giving not only weapons and money, but also less concrete support, like advice and "service." The plaintiffs argue that these prohibitions go too far, infringing on their rights to free speech and association...
There needs to be strong protection for a core area of protected speech and advocacy. Americans should be able to make arguments to a court on the behalf of terrorist groups... They should be able to print the views of these groups for journalistic purposes, either to report the news or to convey a range of opinions. People also need to be free to speak independently about these groups.
...It is not enough for the government simply to say it will not prosecute in these cases. As long as people fear being sentenced to 15 years in prison, they are likely to avoid engaging even in protected speech...
The Supreme Court should... [ensure] that the most fundamental speech rights are protected, including advocacy in court, journalism, and speech that is truly independent of [terrorists].
Not mentioned in the New York Times editorial, of course, is the fact that the Humanitarian Law Project, on behalf of whom the Times is riding the defense of and asserting First Amendment rights, is a corporation.
A corporation, as in "Most wrongheaded of all is [the Court's] insistence that corporations are just like people and entitled to the same First Amendment rights."
During the recent hearing by the U.S. House's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, Congressman Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts thundered about the dangers of Citizens United, noting that it would permit "terrorists" to participate in our political system because they could control small corporations that would engage in independent expenditures.
Apparently, he and the New York Times need to have a chat.
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