In December 1882, ... appeared before the justices of the Supreme Court... to argue that corporations like his client, the Southern Pacific Railroad … - Adam Winkler

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In December 1882, ... appeared before the justices of the Supreme Court... to argue that corporations like his client, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, were entitled to equal rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Although that provision of the Constitution said that no state shall "deprive any person... " or "deny to any person..." Conkling insisted the... drafters intended to cover business corporations too. ...The Fourteenth Amendment had been adopted after the Civil War to guarantee the rights of freed slaves, not to protect corporations. Conkling, however, had unusual credibility... If anyone could testify to the intent of the... drafters, it was Conkling, who was one himself. ...Conkling produced a musty, never-before-published journal that purported to detail his committee's deliberations. ...There was just one small problem with Conkling's account of the drafting... it was not true.

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About Adam Winkler

Adam Winkler (born July 25, 1967) is a professor of at the UCLA School of Law.

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Corporations did not win their constitutional rights in quite the same way as women, racial minorities, or gays and lesbians... [who] pursued their claims in both courts of law and the court of public opinion. To achieve lasting constitutional change... required more... Lawsuits were backed up by broad-based, popular social movements that demanded rights for those who had been denied the original premise of We the People.

The National Rifle Association’s days of being a political powerhouse may be numbered.
Why? The answer is in the numbers.
Support for, and opposition to, gun control is closely associated with several demographic characteristics, including race, level of education and whether one lives in a city. Nearly all are trending forcefully against the NRA.
The core of the NRA’s support comes from white, rural and relatively less educated voters. This demographic is currently influential in politics but clearly on the wane.
...the heart of the organization’s power is the voters it can turn out to vote, and they are likely to decline in number.

Although Americans often think of the Supreme Court as a bulwark to protect minority rights against the tyranny of the majority, the court's record... was dishearteningly bad prior to the 1950s. For most of American history, the Supreme Court failed to protect the dispossessed and marginalized... [T]he court's record on corporate rights was much different. In 1809... corporations won that first case—and have compiled an impressive list of victories... [T]he court has insisted that broad public sentiment favoring business regulation must bend to the demands of the Constitution.

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