The Citizens United Era:
How the Supreme Court Continues to Put Business First

PFAW.org

 A new People For the American Way Foundation report examines how the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is working to reshape our Constitution and elevate corporate interests above the rights of individual Americans. Beginning with the 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, the Roberts Court has handed down a steady stream of decisions that allow enormous corporations to use their resource advantage to influence the law in their favor. 

Since deciding in 2010 that corporations have the same rights as people under the First Amendment in Citizens United, the Roberts Court has continued to side with corporate profits over individual rights. The most recent Supreme Court term brought a steady stream of decisions favoring wealthy special interests and CEOs over voters, consumers, workers, doctors, patients, whistle-blowers and shareholders. As a result, the Supreme Court is steadily eroding the individual protections enshrined in the Constitution and has fundamentally damaged a core pillar of our democracy: fairness under the law. 

The report identifies the most egregious decisions that stack the deck in favor of corporate power and against the rights of individual people, including:

• Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., which allowed insurance companies to sell private patient information to pharmaceutical companies

• Pliva, Inc. v. Mensing and Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC, which endangers patients by exempting drug companies from protective labeling laws

• AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, which limited class action lawsuits against companies that take advantage of their customers

• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, which blocked a class-action suit claiming that Wal-Mart systematically discriminates against women

• J. McIntyre Machinery, LTD. V. Nicastro, which found that even foreign corporations have more rights than American citizens with rightful claims against them.

Read the Report Now   Click here for the full report.

Confirm Cordray, Get the CFPB Working for Consumers!

Wall Street and Republicans don’t like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and have made clear their intentions to sabotage this important agency in any way to prevent it from protecting consumers. Since the CFPB requires a permanent director in order to operate with full authority, Senate Republicans see defeating the nomination of Richard Cordray as director as priority #1 in crippling the Bureau. 

Please sign our emergency petition to CONFIRM RICHARD CORDRAY now.

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