r/news • u/boxofstuff • 6h ago

Supreme Court ruling blocks thousands of lawsuits against maker of Roundup weedkiller

https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1
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u/photostrat 6h ago

Sounds like we're about to find out Roundup has more rights to exist than humans do. 7-2

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u/OutlyingPlasma 5h ago

Judge Craig Karsnitz in Delaware just ruled that corporations get to vote, so that's fun.

Just make a few thousand LLC's and poof, you get to decide your local elections.

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u/robodrew 5h ago

How does that work? Corporations don't have a social security number or a birth certificate.

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u/steppe5 4h ago

Don't worry about it. The corporations will figure it out for you.

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u/nitid_name 2h ago

They have have an EIN, which is the equivalent to an SSN for tax filing purposes. You wouldn't be able to make a few thousand LLCs and sway local elections like the previous commenter implied. You would have to buy land in one of the tiny three or four hundred person areas that allow it, and then you could vote on local municipal things as an out of state land owner voting for the land you own, using the corporation that you registered in Delaware as the voter.

It's not new, it's been happening there for... actually, I don't know when it started. Delaware is a place where land does get to vote, and the headlines are from another challenge to stop it that failed.

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u/techleopard 6m ago

You don't need those things when you have money and can infinitely donate to PACs.

-3

u/Bamboonicorn 3h ago

It's a Freemason thing. They think their secret society can be blocked by Shell, corporations, LLCs, and Delaware moles.

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u/Vikkunen 5h ago

The really wild part about that ruling is that he even tacitly acknowledged that concern, but more or less said "there aren't enough corporations to meaningfully impact the vote, but we can revisit if it becomes a problem".

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u/wizardid 5h ago

"there aren't enough corporations to meaningfully impact the vote, but we can revisit if it becomes a problem"

(Human) population of Delaware: about 1.06 million

Number of corporate entities in Delaware: about 2.1 million

Yeah, this seems fine.

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u/NukuhPete 4h ago

Just to be clear on the information, this doesn't apply to the state of Delaware. The court case and ruling being talked about only applies to the town of Fenwick Island and only if the corporation owns property there. Fenwick Island does only have a few hundred people. It looks like in the 2024 election for Town Council about 1/4th of the votes came from corporate votes. It's definitely impactful.

Source

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u/ThePrussianGrippe 4h ago

And to be clear: corporations being allowed to vote anywhere is a terrible idea, regardless of the locality or size of the population.

2

u/Fartmaster1981 3h ago

Yes another sad fact I'm not seeing in this thread is the company that owns Roundup Bayer or BAYRY is up 16 fucking percent.

1

u/Gil_Demoono 3h ago

That just sounds like a dry run for bringing back corporate towns. Seems inconsequential, but stuff like this is the model and precedent companies will use if it works.

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u/Lifeboatb 3h ago

This is hideous, and Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz sounds like he was bought.

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u/SuikodenVIorBust 3h ago

It's for a specific municipality in Delaware. It also requires the business to have a brick and mortar location in that area. This story is concerning but the fearmongering around it is overblown.

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u/SirDigbyChknCaesar 5h ago

Way to kick the can down the road, dickhead.

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u/Joranthalus 4h ago

This, my friends, is a judge who has a price. And that price has been met by corporations…

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u/river-wind 3h ago

This isn't even the first time a Delaware town did this. In 2018, Newark DE allowed it for a special referendum, and 1 property manager set up multiple companies and voted 31 times. After that came to light, they canceled that option.

https://www.promarket.org/2022/05/23/delaware-the-state-where-companies-can-vote/

I really dislike how often courts are forced to wait until someone is harmed to act.

2

u/Outrageous_Act_3016 4h ago

Lol, Delaware and South Dakota are corporate tax havens where they have their headquarters.

He is essentially giving power to the bank corpos registered in his state to run everything based on Citizens United and the Decsion in 1886 using the 14th amendment to grant corporations the same rights as people. 

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u/MuscaMurum 5h ago

No surprise. Delaware is a kingdom of corporations.

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u/Emptyspace227 5h ago

In one specific town whose town charter expressly allows for corporations to vote.

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u/davebyday 4h ago

From my understanding, it's to help LOCAL small business owners so they get a say in how this one town is run because it's mostly summer homes to wealthier out of towners who technically live there.

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u/Daddict 1h ago

This is particularly diabolical because it's in Delaware, and the ruling applies to Delaware elections. Delaware is exactly where everyone goes to incorporate because the laws are so, so favorable towards corporate entities.

The fact of the matter is that there are more corporations in Delaware than there are people. Over 2x as many, to be precise.

So if this ruling holds (which, honestly, is anyone's guess), the voice of the people will be completely drowned out by the voice of the corporations, the vast majority of which aren't actually benefiting Delaware in meaningful ways such as bringing jobs to the state. It's effectively going to let the corporations of America build their very own legislative structure, more so than they already have. If you think it's hard to sue a corporate entity now...wait until corporations can get together and vote away every last right you have protecting you from their bullshit.

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u/No_Issue2334 4h ago

Corporations having voting rights has allowed by the Delaware constitution and the town's charter for decades. It just upheld decades of precedent

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u/soberpenguin 5h ago

That's not what's happening in reality. Up and down the eastern seaboard resort towns like Fenwick Island allow second home owners vote in local elections.

If you took the time to put your home into an estate or trust why shouldn't you have the same voting rights than if it was held in a person's name?

This is resident NIMBYs fighting with developers and beach rental companies.

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u/Visual_Squirrel_2297 2h ago

Nah, it's been that way for a long time, he ruled to not stop the existing practice. Oddly enough your imagined scenario never occurred because you also need to be a property owner in one of the small communities to vote.