Expansion of Corporative Free Speech and the On-Going Constitutional Crisis in the United States

Authors

  • Isaac de Paz González Author Profesor-Investigador de Tiempo Completo de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Tijuana, México http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2267-5629
  • José Luis Contreras Ramírez Author Universidad Autónoma de Baja California http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8308-155X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5294/dika.2019.28.2.2

Keywords:

Trump, constitutional crisis, democratic values, litigation, role of courts

Abstract

Expansión de la libertad de expresión corporativa y la actual crisis constitucional de Estados Unidos

Expansão da liberdade de expressão corporativa e a atual crise constitucional nos Estados Unidos 

This paper focuses on the constitutional-political turbulence that Donald J. Trump has been creating since he was elected president of the United States. On the one hand, we point out the mainstream of litigious and political issues as signals of an on-going constitutional crisis in the United States and its consequences, both in the national and international scenarios. On the other, we explain the indicators of the constitutional crisis within two levels of analysis. The first one considers Trump’s multiple attacks against American constitutional liberties, while the second one studies the cases of Trump’s policies against customary international law. The paper unveils empirical evidence of all the above-mentioned issues in order to explain the increasing constitutional litigation in District Courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Therefore, the article puts the finger on the role of the judiciary as a key factor in blocking Trump’s policies and his pervasive attacks on the American rule of law.

Para citar este artículo / To reference this article / Para citar este artigo

Isaac de Paz González, José Luis Contreras Ramírez. Expansion of Corporative Free Speech and the On-Going Constitutional Crisis in the United States”, en Dikaion, 28, 2 (2019), 247-283. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5294/dika.2019.28.2.2

Recibido: 27/03/2019

Aceptado: 07/07/2019

Publicado 24/10/2019

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Albright, Madeleine, Fascism: A Warning, New York, Harper, 2018.

Allison, Bill et al., “Tracking the 2016 presidential money race,” Bloomberg, December 9, 2016, at https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-presidential-campaign-fundraising/

Alston, Philip, “The populist challenge to human rights,” Journal of Human Rights Practice 9 (1), 2017, p. 2. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/hux007

Anderson, Carol, One Person No Vote. How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, London, Bloomsbury, 2018.

Balkin, Jack M., “Constitutional crisis and constitutional rot,” in Mark Tushnet et al., Constitutional Democracy in Crisis? Oxford, OUP, 2018.

Barday, Shireen A., “FEC v. Wisconsin Right to… Petition?: A Comment on FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life,” Stanford Law Review 61 (2) (2008).

Biskupic, Joan, “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg calls Trump a ‘Faker’ he says she could resign,” CNN, July 13, 2016, at https://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/12/politics/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump-faker/index.html

Briffault, Richard, “The Challenge of a New Preemption,” Stan Law Review 70 (2018), pp. 1195-2027, 1998-1999. At https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/print/article/the-challenge-of-the-new-preemption/

Coates, Joseph, “Democracy in America. A darkening future,” Technological Forecasting & Social Change 113 (A) (2016). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.10.029

Davis Noll, Bethany A., and Alec Dawson, Deregulation Run Amok. Trump Era. Regulatory Suspension and the Rule of Law, New York, Institute for Policy Integrity, November 2018, 2.

Echo-Hawk, Walter R., In the Courts of the Conqueror. The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided, Fulcrum, 2010.

Frum, David, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic, New York, Harper, 2018.

Fukuyama, Francis, “American political decay or renewal? The meaning of the 2016 election,” Foreign Affairs 95 (4) (2016), pp. 58-68. At https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2016-06-13/american-political-decay-or-renewal

Galbraith, Jean (ed.), “Contemporary practice of the United States relating to international law, ‘President Trump withdraws the United States from the Iran deal and announces the reimposition of sanctions’,” American Journal of International Law, 112 (3) (2018), pp. 514-522.

Goldstein, Leslie F., The U.S. Supreme Court and Racial Minorities. Two Centuries of Judicial Review on Trial, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 2017, p. 7.

Gundlach Gregory T., et al., “Corporate political action: The erosion of the political speech doctrine,” Journal of Business Research 20 (4) (1992), pp. 331-346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0148-2963(92)90038-D

Hasen, Richard L., “Beyond Incoherence: The Roberts Court’s Deregulatory turn in FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life,” Minnesota Law Review 92 (2008). At https://ssrn.com/abstract=1003922

Havercroft, Jonathan, et al., “Editorial: Donald Trump as global constitutional breaching experiment,” Global Constitutionalism 7 (1), (2018), pp. 1-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045381718000035

Kattan, Victor, “Why US recognition of Jerusalem could be contrary to international law,” Journal of Palestine Studies 47 (3), (2018), pp. 72-92. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2018.47.3.72

Kelly, Caroline et al., “Trump says Pittsburgh synagogue should have had armed guards,” CNN, October 27, 2018, at https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/27/politics/trump-jba-death-penalty-pittsburgh/index.html

Kennedy, Liz and Seth Katsuya Endo, “The world according to, and after, McCutcheon v. FEC, and Why It Matters,” Valparaiso University Law Review, 49 (2) (2015), p. 533. At https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2510940

Miller, Greg, “The Apprentice. Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy,” 2018.

Milles, Edwin A., “After John Marshall’s Decision: Worcester v. Georgia and the Nullification Crisis,” Journal of Southern History 4 (39) (1973), pp. 519-544. DOI: http://doi.org/10.2307/2205966

Modell, Mathew W., “Protecting Free Speech in Electioneering Communications: FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life,” North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology 9 (2007). At http://ncjolt.org/protecting-free-speech-in-electioneering-communications-fec-v-wisconsin-right-to-life/

Mutch, Robert E., Buying the vote. A history of the electoral campaign Reform, Oxford, OUP, 2014.

Nelson, Michael (ed.), Guide to the Presidency and the Executive Branch (5th ed.), vol. I, London, CQ Press, 2013.

Olivas, Michael A., “No undocumented child left behind: Plyler v. Doe and the education of undocumented schoolchildren (Citizenship and Migration in the Americas),” New York, New York University Press, 2012.

Pierce, Sarah, Jessica Bolter, and Andrew Selee, “US immigration policy under Trump: Deep changes and lasting impacts,” Migration Policy Institute 9 (2018). At https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/us-immigration-policy-trump-deep-changes-impacts

Piety, Tamara R., “Citizens United and the Threat to the Regulatory State,” Michigan Law Review First Impressions 109 (2010). At https://ssrn.com/abstract=1633639

Reilly, Katie, Justice Paul Stevens’s response, TIME, 2018. https://time.com/5416084/jonio-paul-stevens-brett-kavanaugh/, accessed May 19, 2019.

Roosevelt, T., “The big stick and the square deal,” Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, New York, MacMillan, 1913.

Samples, John, The fallacy of campaign finance reform, 2006, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Schragger, Richard C., “The attack on American cities,” Texas Law Review 96, (6), at https://texaslawreview.org/the-attack-on-american-cities

Smith, Bradley A., “Campaign finance and free speech: Finding the radicalism in Citizens United v. FEC,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 41 (2018). At http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2018/01/Smith_FINAL.pdf

Smith, Bradley A., “McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission: An Unlikely Blockbuster,” New York University Journal of Law & Liberty 9 (2015), pp. 48-49. At https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/nyujlawlb9&div=6&id=&page=

Teachout, Zephyr, Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s snuff box to citizens united, Harvard University Press, 2014.

Tisdall, Simon, “American democracy is in crisis, and not just because of Trump,” The Guardian, 2018, at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/07/american-democracy-crisis-trump-supreme-court, accessed May 19, 2019.

Tribe, Laurence H., et al., “Unresolved recusal issues require a pause in the Kavanaugh hearings,” 2018, at https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Unresolved-Recusal-Issues-Require-a-Pause-in-Kavanaugh-Hearings_FINAL.pdf

Wainwright, Elsina, Human Rights and the Trump Administration, Sydney, United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, 2018, at https://assets.ussc.edu.au/view/99/a5/a4/97/c5/30/bc/fc/9a/cf/41/c3/28/e6/be/cc/original/959a3d253927020b0ed1a1bd671e65306f29b4f4/Human-rights-and-the-Trump-administration.pdf

Winkler, Adam, We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, London, Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2018.

Winter, Ralph K., “The history and theory of Buckley v. Valeo,” Journal of Law and Policy 6 (1) (1997). At https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1416&context=jlp

Wolf, Zachary, “How to know when there is a constitutional crisis,” CNN, May 8, 2019, at https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/08/politics/trump-constitutional-crisis/index.html, accessed May 19, 2019.

Wolff, Michael, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, New York, Henry Holt and Company, 2018.

Woodward, Bob, Fear. Trump in the White House, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2018.

Buckley v. Valeo, 424 US (1) (1974).

Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U. S. 520, 532 (1993).

Citizens United v. FEC, Case No. 08-205, January 21, 2010.

Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U. S. 578, 593 (1987).

FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Case No. 06-969, June 25, 2007.

Federal Election Commission v. Furgatch, Case No. 88-6047, March 9, 1989.

Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 479 U.S. 238 (1986).

First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, Case No.76-1172, November 9, 1978.

King et Al v. Burwell, 576 US (2015).

Korematsu v. United States, 323 US 314 (1944).

Larson v. Valente, 456 U. S. 228, 244 (1982).

McConnell v. FEC, Case No. 02-1674, December 10, 2003.

Plyler v. Doe, Case No. 80-1538, June 15, 1982.

Texas et al. v. United States et al., No. 1:18-cv-00068, Motion for Preliminary Injunction and Memorandum in Support, May 2, 2018.

Trump v. Hawaii, 17-965, 585 US (2018).

Trump v. Hawaii, 17-965, 585 US (2018), Dissenting Opinion, Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Ginsburg joins.

Sentencing Memorandum, United States of America v. Michael Cohen, US District Court Southern District of New York, December 07, 2018.

United States District Court for the District of Columbia, United States of America v. Paul J. Manafort, Jr. crim. No. 17-201-1 (ABJ) Filed December 7, 2018.

Casa de Maryland, et al. v. Dept. of Homeland Security, et al., Civil No. RWT-17-2942, March 5, 2018.

Ms. L v. ICE, Case No. 18cv0428 DMS (MDD), Order Granting Plaintiffs’ Motion For Classwide Preliminary Injunction, June 26, 2018.

Indigenous Environmental Network v. United States Department of State, et al., Defendants and TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, Order Filed November 8, 2018.

Juliana et al. v. United States, US. District Court of Oregon (6:15-cv-01517-TC, Eugene division), Opinion and Order, November 10, 2016.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Donald J. Trump, et al. Civil Action No. 17-1907, August 3, 2018.

The Regents of the University of California and Janet Napolitano, in her official capacity as President of the University of California, v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Kirsten Nielsen, No. C 17-05211, Dismissal and Granting Provisional Relief, January 9, 2018.

International Court of Justice, Press release No. 2018/34, July 17, 2018, at https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/175/175-20180717-PRE-01-00-EN.pdf.

International Court of Justice, “Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America)”.

International Court of Justice, Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures, Order, October 3, 2018, at https://www.icj-cij.org/files/case-related/175/175-20181003-ORD-01-00-EN.pdf.

Colombia, Supreme Court, STC4360-2018 (April 4, 2018).

The Netherlands, Urgenda vs Kingdom of the Netherlands, C/09/456689/HA ZA 13-1396, The Hague Court of Appeal, October 9, 2018.

Federal Election Campaign Act, at https://www.opensecrets.org/resources/learn/glossary.php#Federal+Election+Campaign+Act

Al Jazeera News, “Trump and the palestinians: A timeline. From Jerusalem’s recognition as Israeli capital to closure of PLO Mission, a list of US moves since Trump took office,” September 18, 2018, at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/trump-palestinians-timeline-180910164949522.html.

Al Jazeera, “US Gov’t Shutdown: How Long? Who is Affected? Why Did it Begin?,” Al-Jazeera & News Agencies, 2019, at <https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/gov-shutdown-long-affected-190107150120233.html, accessed May 19, 2019

Brown, Calin “Making electioneering communications”, at https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements-ssf-or-connected-organization/making-electioneering-communications/>

Brown, Calin, “Grant to Trump: How court cases influenced campaign finance,” Open Secrets, 2017, at https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2017/10/grant-to-trump-how-court-cases-influenced-campaign-finance/, accessed May 19, 2019.

Campaign illegal, “Political Action Committee (PAC),” “Dark Money Groups,” at https://campaignlegal.org/update/pacs-super-pacs-dark-money-groups-whats-difference

Campaign illegal, “Super PAC”, at https://campaignlegal.org/update/pacs-super-pacs-dark-money-groups-whats-difference

CNN, “Read Nikki Haley’s Resignation Letter to Trump,” CNN-Politics, October 10, 2018, at https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/09/politics/nikki-haley-resignation-letter/index.html.

CNN, “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg calls Trump a ‘faker,’ he says she should resign”, at https://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/12/politics/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump-faker/index.html.

Congress of the US, Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-45), S. 1322 (104th), November 8, 1995. https://www.congress.gov/104/plaws/publ45/PLAW-104publ45.pdf

Cruikshank, “Campaign Finance and the Supreme Court,” NCSL-National Conference of State Legislatures’, 2015, at <http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/campaign-finance-and-the-supreme-court.aspx>, accessed May 19, 2019.

Department of State, “Remarks on the UN Human Rights Council-Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley”, U.S. Department of State, Washington D.C., June 19, 2018, at https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/06/283341.htm

Department of State, Ambassador Nikki Haley’s “Remarks at the Graduate Institute of Geneva on ‘A Place for Conscience: the Future of the United States in the Human Rights Council,” United States Mission to the United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, June 6, 2017, at https://usun.state.gov/remarks/7828

Department of State, Michael Pompeo “On the Merging of U.S. Embassy Jerusalem and U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem,” U.S. Department of State, Press Statement, October 18, 2018, at https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/10/286731.htm.

Executive orders, at https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/donald-trump/2018

Federal Register, at https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders, accessed June 29, 2019.

Forrest, Adam & Jon Sharman ‘Trump vs news media: 350 organizations condemn US president in coordinated fightback’, 2018, at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-fake-news-media-350-editorials-us-president-a8493946.html, accessed May 19, 2019.

Government Publishing Office US, Presidential Proclamation “Recognizing Jerusalem as the Capital of the State of Israel and Relocating the United States Embassy to Israel to Jerusalem,” Proclamation 9683 of December 6, 2017, at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-12-11/pdf/2017-26832.pdf

Gun Violence Archive, “Until November 3 2018, there have been 27 mass shootings with a total of 12253 deaths’ as noted at https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-shootinghttps://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/12/politics/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump-faker/index.html

Kerr, Paul & Katzman, “Iran Nuclear Agreement and U.S. Exit”, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2018), at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R43333.pdf

Koh, Harold H., Symposium: Trump v. Hawaii — Korematsu’s ghost and national-security masquerades, at http://www.scotusblog.com/2018/06/symposium-trump-v-hawaii-korematsus-ghost-and-national-security-masquerades/

Lu, Denise & Karen Yourish Report “You’re Hired! You’re Fired! Yes, the Turnover at the Top of the Trump Administration”, The New York Times, 2018, at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/16/us/politics/all-the-major-firings-and-resignations-in-trump-administration.html

New York v. United States Department of Labor, at https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/27/politics/trump-jba-death-penalty-pittsburgh/index.html, accessed May 19, 2019.

Presidential order “Reimposing Certain Sanctions with Respect to Iran,” Executive Order 13846 of August 6, 2018, at https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/08062018_iran_eo.pdf.

Roundup: Trump-Era Deregulation in the Courts. Updated December 10, 2018, at https://policyintegrity.org/documents/Deregulation_Roundup.pdf

The US Department of Justice, “Attorney General Sessions Delivers Remarks on DACA,” at https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-sessions-delivers-remarks-daca

The White House, “Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth,” March 28, 2017, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-promoting-energy-independence-economic-growth/

The White House, “Statement by President Trump on Jerusalem,” The White House, Washington D.C., December 6, 2017, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-jerusalem/.

The White House, Presidential Memoranda “Ceasing U.S. Participation in the JCPOA and Taking Additional Action to Counter Iran’s Malign Influence and Deny Iran all Paths to a Nuclear Weapon,” Washington D.C., May 8, 2018, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/ceasing-u-s-participation-jcpoa-taking-additional-action-counter-irans-malign-influence-deny-iran-paths-nuclear-weapon/

Trump Lawsuit Tracker: 164. One Hundred and Thirty Center Suits Filed Against Trump Since His Administration’s Inception, at https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/trump_lawsuits/index.html

United Nations, Framework Convention on Climate Change, https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/conveng.pdf

United Nations, Resolution in Security Council, Res 478/80, August 20, 1980.

USA Today, US does have ‘Obama judges’: Trump responds to Supreme Court Justice John Roberts’ rebuke, at https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/21/john-roberts-trump-statement/2080266002/

Werner, Erica & Damian Paletta “Trump again threatens to shut down government,” Washington Post, 2018, at https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trump-backs-down-from-threat-to-shut-down-government-at-end-of-month/2018/09/05/bfb5992c-b11f-11e8-a20b-5f4f84429666_story.html, accessed May 19, 2019.

White House, “Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord”, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/

Zanotti, Jim, “Israel: Background and U.S. relations in brief,” Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2018, pp. 7-8, at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R44245.pdf

Downloads

Published

2019-10-24

How to Cite

de Paz González, I., & Contreras Ramírez, J. L. (2019). Expansion of Corporative Free Speech and the On-Going Constitutional Crisis in the United States. Díkaion, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.5294/dika.2019.28.2.2

Issue

Section

Articles