That same year, in United States v. Martin Linen Supply Co., corporations -- as persons -- were given Fifth Amendment protections against double jeopardy, limiting the ability of citizens to go after gun manufacturers, among others.
And in Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, the Supreme Court ruled that corporate advertising (including promoting M15 weapons of war to our kids) is a protected form of free speech. (Ironically, William Rehnquist was the sole dissenter; he argued that corporate "speech" [advertising] was often deceptive. But the deed was done; Caveat emptor became the new American normal.)
A year later, in 1977, in First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, the Supreme Court overturned state restrictions on corporate political spending, saying such restrictions violate the First Amendment rights of corporations, and giving the NRA and other interest groups an added lever to use to extract legislation.
In their dissents in that case, Justices White, Brennan, and Marshall argued, "The special status of corporations has placed them in a position to control vast amounts of economic power which may, if not regulated, dominate not only our economy but the very heart of our democracy, the electoral process."
But their warnings were ignored.
Then came the Federalist Society, founded in 1982 with millions of dollars in funding by the Koch-connected Bradley Foundation.
They built a nationwide network of jurists, attorneys, legal scholars, and politicians to indoctrinate a new generation's legal system with billionaire-friendly interpretations: Corporate personhood is real, money is speech, democracy is not sacred, and organized money should always have privilege over organized people.
They also helped lay the case for the Heller decision, which, for the first time in nearly 230 years, found a "right to individual gun ownership" in the 2nd Amendment.
In 2010 the Supreme Court wrapped its gift to corporations and gun manufacturers all up in a neat little bundle with their 5-4 Citizen's United ruling. With that decision, America was nearly completely turned over to the wealthy and corporations.
Thereafter, oligarchs like Adenson and the Kochs began openly bragging about how much they were spending to buy politicians, legislation, tax breaks, and the deregulation of consumer protections.
President Obama called this out in his 2010 State Of The Union speech:
"It's time to require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my administration or with Congress. It's time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office.
"With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that, I believe, will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.
"I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests or, worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people."
Hard-right corporatist judge Sam Alito silently (and disrespectfully) mouthed, "Not true!" at Obama, but history shows that Alito was the one in error, not Obama. Right on down to the ability of foreign entities to influence our elections and lawmaking by, for example, the possible laundering of campaign money through the NRA.
And so, a few days after Paul Ryan shepherded through Congress a law that confers potentially billions of dollars in tax benefits to them, the Kochs and their friends put a half-million dollars into Ryan's fundraising committee, while the NRA continues to shower him and Mitch McConnell with support.
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