Quote:
Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo
See Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Tom Logan (Nov. 12, 1816), in 12 The Works of Thomas Jefferson 42, 44 (P. Ford ed. 1905) ("I hope we shall . . . crush in [its] birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country").
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Here though, the corporations aren't defying the laws of the country, they're asking that Congress be bound by the 1st amendment in enacting laws
I don't like it either, but I'm sure Jefferson would be even more surprised that the 4th amendment applies to foreign terrorists who have never set foot in the U.S, or that there's a federal right to abortion.
The constitution is basically like the bible, it can be used to support or oppose almost anything. It's like this legal fiction standing in the way of the real debate.
The power is with the appellate courts. They decide how they want the laws to be (or not be), and then humor us with a "constitutional analysis"