Corporations Claim the "Right to Lie"

After Nike conducted a huge and expensive PR blitz to tell people that it had cleaned up its subcontractors' sweatshop labor practices, California activist Marc Kasky sued them under a California law that forbids corporations from intentionally deceiving people in their commercial statements. "Instead of refuting Kasky's charge by proving in court that they didn't lie, however, Nike instead chose to argue that corporations should enjoy the same 'free speech' right to deceive that individual human citizens have in their personal lives," writes Thom Hartmann. It's true that free speech is an important right for people, but Hartmann points out that "Nike isn't a person - it's a corporation." He analyzes the history of the legal fiction that gives corporations the same rights as people, and suggests that the Kasky case might "begin the process of dismantling the flawed and unconstitutional doctrine of corporate personhood."