The US government's FOIA update on this case can be found here:
http://www.justice.gov/oip/foiapost/2011foiapost04.htm
On 3/1/11, Craig Holman <holman@aol.com> wrote:
The tone and tenor of the unanimous Supreme Court decision in FCC v. ATT
certainly surprises many of us, and sounds little like the same court of
Citizens United.
Writing for a unanimous court, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that
personal privacy “suggests a type of privacy evocative of human concerns -
not the sort usually associated with an entity like, say, AT&T.” The fact
that “person” is defined for FOIA purposes to include corporations does not
change the meaning of “personal.” As the court pointed out, the word “corny”
has little to do with corn, and the word “crabby” does not refer either to a
crustacean or an apple.
A well-reasoned decision, indeed.
Public Citizen's Adina Rosenbaum served as co-counsel for the FOIA
requester.
Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government Affairs Lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue NE
Washington, D.C. 20003
TEL: (202) 454-5182
CEL: (202) 905-7413
FAX: (202) 547-7392
Holman@aol.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Jon Roland <jon.roland@constitution.org>
To: election-law <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>
Sent: Tue, Mar 1, 2011 1:30 pm
Subject: Re: [EL] Electionlawblog news and commentary 3/1/11
This is a mischaracterization of the decision, which was thatcorporations
don't have "personal privacy", not that they are not"persons". Entirely
different issue.
In law a "person" is a role that an actor may play in a legalcase, not the
actor playing it. It is roles, not actors,that have rights, powers, and
duties in law. Each individual can bemany persons. Everyone is at least a
private person and a publicperson. Other persons an individual can be is
"contracting party","partner', "parent", "child", "heir", "settlor",
"trustee","beneficiary", or "official". Each such person can have
differentrights, powers, and duties, even though embodied in the same
individual.
This is basic Law 101. When did people stop being taught these basics?
On 03/01/2011 12:10 PM, Rick Hasen wrote:
A Corporation is Not a Person, At Least Not Today
Interesting statutory interpretation discussion in today'sAT&T case issuedby
the Supreme Court. One absence in the discussion written by theChief
Justice: no mention of legislative history.
-- Jon
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