hrimfaxi 15 hours ago

Because a corporation is a group of people, and a group of people don't lose their freedom of speech just because they joined a collective.

And corporations can stand for things. They can have missions and use funds to effect speech in support of causes that align with their beliefs.

  • mcv 4 hours ago

    Is a corporation really a group of people? Of course people are involved with the corporation, but the corporation doesn't represent its employees, shareholders, management or customers. It's a separate legal entity with complex relationships with its employees, management, shareholders and customers, but with its own rights and responsibilities.

    There are organisation forms that are a lot closer to being just a group of people working together, like co-ops and firms maybe. I'm not entirely up to date on all options in English-speaking countries (which will vary of course, but the Dutch Maatschap is probably as close as you can get to a company that's just a group of people.

    • Attrecomet 3 hours ago

      >the Dutch Maatschap is probably as close as you can get to a company that's just a group of people.

      So the Dutch just go ahead and call a group of people a "mash up"!

tekla 13 hours ago

If a group of workers create a Union, should the Union be allowed free speech?

  • acka 12 hours ago

    I believe it would be redundant to explicitly grant freedom of speech to an organization such as a union, as its individual members inherently possess this right.

    • comex 8 hours ago

      And you will find similar reasoning in the Citizens United decision with respect to corporations:

      > If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech. If the antidistortion rationale were to be accepted, however, it would permit Government to ban political speech simply because the speaker is an association that has taken on the corporate form.