Tag: corporate personhood

marriage of women to corporation

Fifth Anniversary of Woman’s Marriage to a Corporation

Today marks what would have been the fifth anniversary of Angela Vogel’s marriage to my corporation, Corporate Person. On July 17th, 2012, King County granted their right to marry and then took to Facebook later to tell the couple that...

/ July 17, 2017

Hobby Lobby: Latest in Evolution of Corporate Consitutional Rights

The History of Corporate Constitutional Rights In light of this week’s Hobby Lobby ruling that corporations are persons under the law which can hold religious beliefs, I thought it would be good to revisit the origin and evolution of corporate personhood and corporate constitutional...

/ July 1, 2014

How Things Change as Constitutional Rights Contract and Expand for People and Corporations

People often ask whether a proposed Seattle law such as Initiative 103 could actually impact the Supreme Court’s interpretation of corporate personhood and speech rights. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time a law from Washington State turned the tide of...

/ November 4, 2013

Phonebook Lawsuit Cost Seattle $264,503 in Legal Fees

Update: Seattle Weekly reports that the city has announced a $517,500 settlement with the phonebook companies. The total cost of the settlement and legal fees to the city therefore is $781,503. City says phonebook opt-out service will be taken offline soon....

/ March 1, 2013

Why You Should Care About Seattle’s Phonebook Debacle

Update: In response to my public records request, the City of Seattle reports it has paid $264,503 in outside legal fees during the Yellow Pages Lawsuit. Reading through the comments on BoingBoing about Seattle’s proposed $500,000 settlement with phonebook companies highlighted for me how misunderstood...

/ February 26, 2013

Good Activism Breaks Law

Update: The Stranger published a shorter version of this on August  15. Last week, The Stranger called Initiative 103 “an unconstitutional waste of time,” but constitutionality isn’t the right benchmark to measure social change efforts. In 1873, after suffragist Susan...

/ August 5, 2012

How Phonebook Companies Are Wasting Seattle Taxpayers’ Money

Thud… Thud… Thud! That’s the sound of phonebooks you opted out from landing on your porch in the near future if Seattle loses a lawsuit brought by phonebook publishers. The case is a perfect example of big business using “corporate personhood”...

/ July 11, 2012