Regarding the reliance (Letters, June 29) by Ralph Nader on the views expressed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist in 1986, to the effect that corporations are unworthy of the First Amendment rights of others: Mr. Nader might have better served your readers had he informed them that the chief justice later changed his mind on that topic and joined in 2003 a dissenting opinion of Justice Anthony Kennedy inMcConnell v. Federal Election Commission that said just the opposite—that "[c]orporations, after all, are the engines of our modern economy," that they "facilitate complex operations on which the Nation's prosperity depends" and that the First Amendment must be read to allow them to speak out on "pending political issues that may threaten the country's economic interests." The opinion said much the same about unions, concluding that the ban by Congress on electioneering communications of both corporations and unions reflected a "fundamental misunderstanding of the First Amendment."
Floyd Abrams
New York
Mr. Abrams was counsel to Sen. Mitch McConnell in the case cited above.
Note from KBJ: I hate to say it, since I voted for him twice (in 1996 and 2000), but Ralph Nader is either stupid or deceptive.
