Occupy the Courts, New York, was denied the necessary permit to demonstrate in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan. But the struggle to overturn Citizens United has now begun. Dahlia Lithwick, writing in The Guardian, says it's not going to be anything like easy. The Supremes -- where all this started and must end -- have cards up their black sleeves.
At one level, Occupy the Courts could not be a more brilliant campaign at more opportune moment. After all, Occupy Wall Street has been faulted for being – as they might say in Texas – all hat no cattle; a movement with huge popular support but no coherent objective. By taking a position on Citizens United and the massive influx of corporate dollars pouring into election campaigns, protesters not only align themselves with the 99% of Americans who can't yet afford to buy and sell entire elections, but also seize upon the most abhorrent metaphor deployed by the 5-4 majority in the Citizens United decision: that corporations are the same as living, breathing humans when it comes to constitutional protections. ...Guardian
As more than one wag has said, if that's true, then Mitt Romney should be arrested as a serial killer. But he won't be. Consistency is not a concern of this Supreme Court anymore than justice and respect for the system are.
It was a throwaway element of the case; one the five conservative justices have doubtless come to regret (less than a year later they had to hear a case involving AT&T's claimed that it was capable of embarrassment. They sent AT&T packing). But in the black night of a recession, it is the supreme court that ultimately decided that for some constitutional purposes, corporations are people and people who have been fired, abused, forced into arbitration, and discriminated against by big corporations had enough.
It's worth noting here that the same supreme court made it easier for corporate America to abuse ordinary citizens by wall of firings, discrimination and forced arbitration. Citizens United and the myth of corporate personhood are the right symbol. But the problem runs far, far deeper.
This, then, is what happens when the Supreme Court and the 99% collide.
Of course the problem for those who seek to occupy the courts today is that it is not only nearly impossible to occupy the supreme court, it's quite difficult even to approach it. ...Guardian
No, you're not allowed on the steps.
I don't know which it was -- Lithwick or Guardian editor -- who decided to reduce the Supreme Court to lower case, but they're right to do so. Hey, supremes, are you paying attention? Even our former oppressors think you're a bunch of autocrats!
And by the way, autocrats , Lithwick -- a legal scholar -- isn't letting you get away with it.
Public protest is permitted on the strip of sidewalk directly in front of the plaza, but it would only accommodate a smallish rally at best. The heart of the supreme court's decision in Citizens United is that all voices should be heard equally, and that suppression of any speech is dangerous in a democracy. The fact that citizen speech about that case near the nation's courthouses isn't allowed hasn't been lost on the protesters, who mostly already knew the court's famous pledge of "Equal Justice Under Law" is increasingly more corporate slogan than constitutional promise. ...Guardian
The movement to amend the Constitution -- to put corporations back where they belong in relation to American voters -- is underway.
