We read in this morning’s New York Times that the state of Texas has (and other states with fascist legislatures soon will) made it illegal for a corporation to decline to do business with gun makers and other merchants of death. In another era, this blatantly unconstitutional interference in interstate commerce would be considered…umm…I know!: Blatantly unconstitutional! In this era it should also be considered unconstitutional if one applies the unconstitutional ruling in Citizens United, since if a) corporations are entitled to all the rights of actual human beings (and then some, actually), and b) investing money in politicians is a form of speech with which the government is barred from interfering by the First Amendment, then it only makes sense that the Texas statute is unconstitutional since a) corporations are entitled to all the rights of human beings, and 2) investing money is a form of speech with which the government is barred from interfering by the First Amendment.
However, we can probably count on the present Supreme Court telling us that Texas is not at all interfering with interstate commerce, and as to Free Speech, well, spending money is only speech when it’s spent to buy politicians, particularly Republican, politicians.
So, I’ve no doubt that Gavin Newsom will (and I hope Ned Lamont will follow his lead) anticipate my modest proposal by proposing legislation in California that duplicates the Texas law, except that it would penalize corporations for doing precisely what Texas requires of them.
Alas, I am confident Brett and his pals can find a way to let Texas have its way while deploring the blatant unconstitutionality of California’s law. Still, it’s worth the effort if only to further undermine the public’s faith in an institution that has now abandoned all pretense of impartiality or actual belief in the rule of law.
Post a Comment