The Kirwan InstituteMonday, April 12, 6 p.m.
Saxbe Auditorium, Moritz College of Law
55 West 12th Avenue
A panel discussion will examine both the legal and social implications of the recent
Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FCC. This decision extended the meaning
of free political speech to corporate expenditures in federal elections and thus granted
broad First Amendment rights to corporations under the corporate personhood doctrine.
The Fourteenth Amendment weighs heavily in the origins of corporate personhood cases
on which Citizens United depends, though the amendment’s original purpose was to grant
slaves the status of “person.” Discussion will explore what the Citizens United decision
means for social and racial justice, and the history of the Court and corporate rights.