Business Organizations Law Commons^™

Brief For Professor Kent Greenfield As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Respondents, State Of Washington Vs. Arlene's Flowers And Ingersoll Vs. Arlene's Flowers, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

This amicus curiae brief addresses a fundamental state-law premise of Appellants’ constitutional claims that has gone largely unexplored in the prior briefing: whether Arlene’s Flowers, a Washington for-profit corporation, may obtain an exemption from generally applicable laws based on the religious beliefs of a shareholder, Mrs. Stutzman. Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Appellants assert that “Arlene’s free-exercise rights are synonymous with Mrs. Stutzman’s.” Those two cases, however, had nothing to do with Washington corporate law and took no stance on the authority of …

Brief Of Amici Curiae Corporate Law Professors In Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Harold Kent Greenfield, Daniel A. Rubens

Kent Greenfield

Professor Greenfield was the principal author of an amicus brief on behalf of 33 corporate law professors in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, argued in December 2017. The brief argues that shareholders’ religious and political beliefs should not be projected onto a corporation for purposes of First Amendment accommodation.

Indian National Bar Association (Inba) Celebrates 66th National Law Day, Amit Kumar

Amit Kumar

26th Nov 2015, New Delhi: A groundbreaking International conference on Law & Policy issues of more than 400 prominent thought Members of Parliament from India and United Kingdom, leaders, CEO's, heads of legal department, researchers, advocates, practitioners and policymakers from at least 08 countries gathered in New Delhi on 26th November 2015, energizing a global movement working to advance policy issues around the globe. Held November 26, the “International Conference on Law and Policy Issues” to commemorate the 66th National Law Day marked its hosting in India as the biggest conference of the year hosted by Indian National Bar Association. …

In Defense Of Corporate Persons, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

This essay is a critique of this attack on corporate personhood. It explains that the corporate separateness - corporate “personhood” - is an important legal principle as a matter of corporate law. What’s more, as a matter of constitutional law, corporate “personhood” deserves a more nuanced analysis than has been typically offered in arguing in favor of an amendment to overturn Citizens United. Indeed, the concept of corporate “personhood” can in fact be marshaled in arguments against corporations being able to assert constitutional rights. In the nascent category of cases brought by corporations asserting rights of religious freedom, for example, …

The Meaning Of Hobby Lobby: Bedrooms, Boardrooms & Burdens, Anne Tucker

Anne Tucker

No abstract provided.

Hoja De Vida, Marta Luisa Ramirez Mejia Ms

MARTA LUISA RAMIREZ MEJIA MS

No abstract provided.

What’S Good For General Motors: Corporate Speech And The Theory Of Free Expression, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

No abstract provided.

Corporate Piety And Impropriety: Hobby Lobby's Extension Of Rfra Rights To For-Profit Corporations, Amy Sepinwall

Amy J. Sepinwall

In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court held, for the first time, that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) applied to for-profit corporations and, on that basis, it allowed Hobby Lobby to omit otherwise mandated contraceptive coverage from its employee healthcare package. Critics argue that the Court’s novel expansion of corporate rights is fundamentally inconsistent with the basic principles of corporate law. In particular, they contend that the decision ignores the fact that the corporation, as an artificial entity, cannot exercise religion in its own right, and they decry the notion that the law might look through the corporate …

Why Personhood Matters, Tamara R. Piety

Tamara R. Piety

One of the most controversial aspect of the Supreme Court's decisions in Citizens United and Hobby Lobby is its treatment of corporate personhood. Many members of the public object to the notion that corporations should have the same rights as human beings. Yet many scholars claim that this concern is misplaced. In this article I argue that concern about corporate personhood is not misplaced because the personhood metaphor conceals the degree to which there has not been an adequate justification given for extending fundamental rights to corporations. Focusing on personhood allows us to push on the metaphor to ask whether …

Privacy And Organizational Persons, Eric W. Orts, Amy Sepinwall

Amy J. Sepinwall

This Article responds to an argument made recently by Elizabeth Pollman that corporations should not be deemed to have “constitutional privacy rights” in “most circumstances.” Setting forth an alternative conception of organizational rights and examining different meanings of “privacy,” the Article contends that courts should tread more carefully and that it may often be sensible and recommended to allow corporations and other organizations to assert some constitutional “rights of privacy.” More specifically, the Article suggests that organizations may enjoy “primary” rights, which reside with the organizations in the first instance or “secondary” rights, which are asserted by an organization to …

Conscience And Complicity: Assessing Pleas For Religious Exemptions After Hobby Lobby, Amy Sepinwall

Amy J. Sepinwall

In the paradigmatic case of conscientious objection, the objector claims that his religion forbids him from actively participating in a wrong (e.g., by fighting in a war). In the religious challenges to the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate, on the other hand, employers claim that their religious convictions forbid them from merely subsidizing insurance through which their employees might commit a wrong (e.g., by using contraception). The understanding of complicity underpinning these challenges is vastly more expansive than what standard legal doctrine or moral theory contemplates. Courts routinely reject claims of conscientious objection to taxes that fund military initiatives, or …

Your Boss’S Business? Corporate Personhood And The Supreme Court, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

Hobby Lobby was a dangerous decision,but because the Court ignored corporate personhood rather than endorsing it.

Praising Corporate Personhood, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

Corporate personhood has wrongly developed a bad name; efforts to end corporate personhood by way of a constitutional amendment are either worthless or harmful.

Corporate Citizenship: Goal Or Fear?, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

Progressives should oppose a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood.

Debate: “Be It Resolved: Corporations Should Not Be Considered People Under The U.S. Constitution.”, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

This was a debate with Jeff Clements, founder of Free Speech for People, about corporate personhood.

Religious Rights Of Corporations, Part 2, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

States Rights > Gay Rights, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

By now you've heard from the various news sources that, in this week’s Supreme Court arguments on California's Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, a majority of justices expressed skepticism over both. So it's imaginable—even probable, if you believe the news—that we will find ourselves at the end of June with DOMA in the junk pile and marriage equality back on the books in California.

But don't put the pink champagne on ice just yet. In both days of argument, the justices spent an extraordinary amount of time dealing with knotty procedural issues. Both cases are complicated by …

Weird Friends Of The Court, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

If you’ve felt encouraged by recent trends in favor of gay rights—including the new Washington Post poll showing 58 percent of Americans support marriage equality—swing over to SCOTUSblog and read some of the nearly 60 “friend of the Court” briefs opposing gay marriage.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases—the first on California’s Prop 8, the second on the Defense of Marriage Act—that could determine whether the federal government can define marriage as between a man and a woman, and whether state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. The parties are …

The Glocks Are Falling! The Glocks Are Falling!, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

The gun crowd is so paranoid about the erosion of their Second Amendment rights that they make Chicken Little look like an actuary.

The president’s recent gun proposals include initiatives such as expanded background checks, a ban on certain military-type rifles, and limits on the size of magazines. But if you listen to the gun folks, even these tepid proposals are—to quote a past president of the National Rifle Association—“unconstitutional schemes to gut the Second Amendment.” Iowa Senator Charles Grassley accused Obama of thinking “the Second Amendment can be tossed aside.” Any skeptical glance in the direction of that Glock …

Janus Capital Group, Inc. V. First Derivative Traders: The Culmination Of The Supreme Court’S Evolution From Liberal To Reactionary In Rule 10b-5 Actions, Charles W. Murdock

Charles W. Murdock

“Political” decisions such as Citizens United and National Federation of Independent Business (“Obamacare”) reflect the reactionary bent of several Supreme Court justices. But this reactionary trend is discernible in other areas as well. With regard to Rule 10b-5, the Court has handed down a series of decisions that could be grouped into four trilogies. The article examines the trend over the past 40 years which has become increasingly conservative and finally reactionary.

The first trilogy was a liberal one, arguably overextending the scope of Rule 10b-5. This was followed by a conservative trilogy which put a brake on such extension, …

Progressive Possibilities For Corporate Law, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Panelist, Mini-Symposium On Tamar Frankel's Book The Ponzi Scheme Puzzle, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Featured Speaker, Demos Monthly Meeting, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Panelist, Apocalypse Now Or Much Ado About Nothing? An Election Post-Mortem On The Effects Of Citizens United, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Is The Anti-Muhammad Film Constitutionally Unprotected 'Fighting Words'?, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

A New Strategy To Fight Citizens United, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Moderator, Corporation Speech After Citizens United, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Panelist, The Affordable Care Act’S Prospects In The Supreme Court, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Panelist, To Amend Or Not To Amend: The Impact Of Citizens United, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

No abstract provided.

Panelist, Control The Corporation Conference, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

Website for the conference videos: http://csrl.org/2012/04/14/control-the-corporation-conference-videos/