The corporations in the United States unlike people do not merit constitutional rights, but the individuals that come together to act in such corporations have the full array of rights every citizen in any country should have. This narrows down the very existence of corporations in the business World. However, corporations have been treated as individuals in limited ways for some legal purposes including the right to enter into contracts, sue and be sued, the right to political spending, and hold property and assets. The corporations may also have limited rights to free speech but they cannot and should not be allowed to run for office, vote, or bear arms (Shapiro & McCarthy, 2010).
In addition, corporations also have the legal rights to limited liability and the ability to issue bonds and stocks for financing the business as businesses can attract large sums of investment capital through issuing bonds and stocks which would be a major factor in the growth and development of corporations as businesses. It is also important to note that while corporations have legal rights similar to people in certain circumstances, these rights should be ensured through various federal and state laws that promote economic stability across the United States.
According to the Fourth Amendment, corporations in the United States are treated as legal entities and do have protection although it differs from the protection afforded to individual citizens. For instance, corporations have no reasonable expectation or legal rights of privacy when it comes to securing corporations’ records. Law enforcement officials can search the business record of any corporation without any search warrant at any time. This is because the business record of any corporation is considered to be a matter of public record under most circumstances stemming from the fact that corporations are not individuals so they do not possess personal privacy concerns under the Fourth Amendment as people usually have (Ohm, 2011). Thus, corporations cannot enjoy the same level of privacy rights as an individual citizen do under the Fourth Amendment.
References
Ohm, P. (2011). The Fourth Amendment in a world without privacy. Miss. LJ, 81, 1309.
Shapiro, I., & McCarthy, C. W. (2010). So What if Corporations Aren’t People. J. Marshall L. Rev., 44, 701.
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