The Supreme Court and American Sovereignty

By Russell W. McNutt

What a wondrous age of creation we live in, when the stroke of a pen can give “life” to a piece of paper in the form of a “person” and with another pen stroke, give that “person” extra constitutional privileges.

Is that “person” real?  Or, is it just a figment of an overactive imagination? Or perhaps a fantastic feat of legerdemain, by cloaked, malevolent wizards?

Pull back the curtain and behold! It is the U.S. Supreme Court.  In a number of cumulative decisions over the past century, it is they who have given mythical “personhood” to corporations and with it privileges beyond those granted to U.S. citizens by the Constitution.   Further, in the decision of Citizens United vs FEC, American citizenship apparently was not a consideration because many of the larger corporations doing business in our country are foreign owned.  I believe these decisions exceed the constitutional mandate of the Supreme Court.

The decision in question certainly infringed on the rights of the human PEOPLE of this nation.  The decision to allow corporations to contribute unlimited amounts of money, to influence U.S. elections and install candidates of their choice, is literally handing over control of our nation to corporations, the many of which are owned wholly or in part by foreign countries.  It is tantamount to surrendering the sovereignty of the United States to other nations.  It is not too much of a stretch to consider this an act of treason.

THE PEOPLE, the real persons, of the United States must band together in an action to take back our country   Of course, I refer to legal actions.

We are supposed to be a nation of legal checks and balances. Congress should enact legislation removing the mythical personhood from corporations and with it the privileges that accrue tonpersons.

There is no place in the U.S. Constitution where corporations are even mentioned.  The perverted logic that gave corporations personhood exceeds the language of the XIVth Amendment of the US Constitution, on which the  1886 Court pretended to base its decision. The Amendment states that “All persons born or naturalized …are citizens of the United States…” No mention is made of corporations as persons or otherwise. The Supreme  Court of 1886 created the Corporate Personhood Doctrine out of thin air. It is not part of the Constitution therefore no amendment should be necessary.  Section 5 of the XIVth Amendment is of particular interest: “Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” I therefore submit that Congress has the constitutional authority to enforce a strict reading of the XIVth amendment, which by omission precludes corporate personhood and subsequent rights given this fictitious entity.

Congress can pass legislation that provides corporations the protection deemed necessary by the Court of 1886 and reiterating the duties and responsibilities of corporations to THE PEOPLE. Corporations should not have protection superior to or even equal to that of THE PEOPLE. Legislation should remove the “corporate veil” that plotters and instigators of corporate nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance have so successfully hidden behind.   Real legal accountability is a must.

Following appropriate legislation, Congress should petition the Court for a de novo review of both the 1886 decision and the Citizens United decision, on the grounds that the court erred in both cases by encroaching on Legislative Branch prerogatives in making law and that any deficiencies in corporate protection addressed by the 1886 Court has been rectified in the new legislation.

The foregoing suggestion would obviate the necessity of the long and cumbersome constitutional amendment process.   If two branches of our Government can’t resolve this injustice by working together, then we, THE PEOPLE would have no choice but to proceed with the constitutional amendment movement.

It may already be a challenge to get Congress to so act, since so many elected officials are already beholden to corporations because of past financial contributions to campaigns and other “projects”.

As a first step, I propose a deluge of letters, phone calls, emails, faxes, etc., to our elected officials, encouraging them to take action on our behalf.  We need to let our Senators and Representatives know how outraged we are by this Supreme Court give away.

The storm clouds are gathering.   If this nation is to stay afloat we need to make some radical changes in the way our government does business. All citizens, “natural born or naturalized” need to pay attention to what is happening to their country. We all need to participate in guiding our nation on a true course to the recovery of our equilibrium and sovereignty.

Our forefathers said it best, in the Declaration of Independence.   “…Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed   That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, (unalienable rights) it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government…” Now is the time!