CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Delaware Says Corporations Really are People

Image by David Vines.

When he ran for president in 2012, Mitt Romney famously declared that corporations are people. What brought laughter then has begun to be reality today, however. A little noticed court decision in Delaware confirmed that corporations have the right to vote in that state.

I wish this was a joke. But it’s not funny at all. Delaware corporations, however, won’t face the death penalty as Delaware abolished it more than a decade ago, so we won’t see a manifestation of one of the best signs at Occupy Wall Street: “I’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.”

Business entities will be voting in local elections in Fenwick Island and a few other Delaware towns. This came to wider attention on May 26 when a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled that Fenwick Island allowing “artificial entities,” including corporations and limited liability companies, that own property in the town to vote in town elections is legal under state law. In handing down the decision in American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware vs. Town of Fenwick Island, Judge Craig A. Karsnitz wrote that the ACLU, which brought the lawsuit in conjunction with Fenwick residents, failed to find “clear and convincing evidence” that the plaintiffs overcame a presumption that what the Delaware Legislature enacts is constitutional. The judge did acknowledge there were concerns here, albeit dismissing them. He wrote:

“I appreciate that Plaintiff may disagree with Delaware’s policy of authorizing certain municipalities to allow voting on behalf of entity property owners., Visions of faceless large corporations or even HAL [the murderous computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey], controlling a small town are frightening and the stuff of science fiction. However, Plaintiff has not demonstrated that this policy violates the policy of one person/entity/one vote. Plaintiff points to no other persuasive independent authority other than the Elections Clause of the Delaware Constitution itself. And matters of policy are appropriately left to legislative bodies, not the courts.”

“I appreciate that Plaintiff may disagree with Delaware’s policy of authorizing certain municipalities to allow voting on behalf of entity property owners., Visions of faceless large corporations or even HAL [the murderous computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey], controlling a small town are frightening and the stuff of science fiction. However, Plaintiff has not demonstrated that this policy violates the policy of one person/entity/one vote. Plaintiff points to no other persuasive independent authority other than the Elections Clause of the Delaware Constitution itself. And matters of policy are appropriately left to legislative bodies, not the courts.”

In other words, to put it in a somewhat less legalistic way: Tough cookies. The ACLU of Delaware had raised the claim — rather reasonably, all jokes aside — that allowing corporations to vote violated the........

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