Sotomayor finds elephant in the room
In her maiden Supreme Court appearance last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a provocative comment that probed the foundations of corporate law.
During arguments in a campaign-finance case, the court's majority conservatives seemed persuaded that corporations have broad First Amendment rights and that recent precedents upholding limits on corporate political spending should be overruled.
But Justice Sotomayor suggested the majority might have it all wrong -- and that instead the court should reconsider the 19th century rulings that first afforded corporations the same rights flesh-and-blood people have.
She is likely to be outvoted on this case, but she appears willing to question the underlying rulings that gave corporations the legal standing of people to begin with. That, by itself, makes her a lot more liberal then most currently on the court.
The article doesn't talk about it, but the underlying case itself is important itself. It's another case relating to corporate spending of money and free speech. If the court overturns the law, depending on how broadly it rules, it might carve out a huge hole in all campaign finance laws.
Jay
