Can a corporation be sued?
If so... why?
It isn't a person.
A rock cannot be sued. A cow cannot be sued.
I see the need for some limitation of the expressive rights and political rights of for-profit business entities, but corporate person-hood is not, in itself, an absurd concept, or a recent one. In its basic form it has been around for centuries.
If a corporation was not, legally, a person-like entity it could not enter into contracts or be a party in a law suit. We create these virtual legal persons to represent groups and interests.
The Scalia-era SCOTUS did not create corporate person-hood. It extended expressive political rights to such person-like entities. I suspect a later court will reign that in somewhat.
The question is how fully it is a person.
A ways back there was a sinister precedent that the 14th Amendment applies to corporations... which it should in some ways, but not fully.
For instance, if taken all the way, the 13th and 14th Amendment would prevent a corporation being owned by the stockholders. That would be slavery, right?
Like so many things, the whole corporate person-hood issue is complicated as heck. They cannot vote. They cannot be drafted. They cannot be charged with criminal offenses the same way a person can... and can't very well serve time if they could.
There will be some way found to finesse the expressive rights matter... but it will require finesse. DU is a corporation that supports candidates right up until election day... it's tricky.
After a few more Obama appointments, though, I think Citizens United will be defanged... with finesse.
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