Mark D. White

Mark D. White

You win some, you lose some. My most recent letter to the Wall Street Journal, in response to Ralph Nader and Ralph Weissman's February 11 article against the Citizens United decision, "The Case Against Corporate Speech," went unpublished (the published letters are here). For what it's worth, here's what I wrote:

I hope Messrs Nader and Weissman realize that the end of their piece on Citizens United undermines their argument against it. They write that "corporations… were meant to be our servants, not our masters." Precisely right–corporations are legal instruments that allow people to increase their wealth by providing a service that others choose to purchase. But they are also instruments through which those same people can express their political opinions, including by contributing to campaigns (or selling their stock if they disagree with a company's donations). Before Citizens United, this alternative mechanism for political speech was blocked, and the Supreme Court was correct in providing more ways for citizens to engage in the political process.