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editor’s prefaceThis issue is bookended by a pair of short writings by Guild PresidentDavid Gespass. The first is his critique of the Supreme Court’s decision inCitizens United v. FEC, a case that has the power to permanently modifythe American political process and, frankly, is too momentous for this lawreview to ignore.In Citizens United the Court declared unconstitutional that part of theBipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (aka “McCain-Feingold”) whichbans corporate funding of radio and television campaign ads within 30 daysof a presidential primary and 60 days of the general election, thus openingthe floodgates for rich and powerful corporations to saturate popular mediawith endless amounts of thirty and sixty second campaign commercialsfor their favorite candidates. In “Citizens United and the Fetishism of theCorporation” David Gespass explains that the problem with the Court’sinterpretation of the First Amendment in this case is its failure to recognizeprecisely what corporations are and how their influence is felt in our politicalsystem. It is not so much corporations, themselves mere impersonal andabstract entities, the Court has empowered with its decision in this case asthe particular wealthy and connected individuals forming America’s rulingclass who own and control them.The Court contends that its opinion in Citizens United expands freedomof speech. Instead it imposes censorship. By allowing money to control thevolume of one’s political voice Citizens United enables the ruling class tospeak at decibel levels capable of rendering messages from its natural politicalopponents among the humbler classes, or anyone else for that matter, inau-______________________Continued on page 128National Lawyers Guild Review, formerly Guild Practitioner, is published quarterly by the NationalLawyers Guild, a non-profit institution, at 132 Nassau Street, # 922, New York NY 10038. ISSN 0017-5390.Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates are $75/yrfor libraries and institutions; $25/yr for lawyers; $10/yr for legal workers/law students; $5/yr for incarceratedpersons; add $5/yr for overseas; $6.50/single copy, and should be sent to: 132 Nassau Street, # 922,New York NY 10038. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: National Lawyers Guild Review, 132Nassau Street, # 922, New York NY 10038. Address all editorial correspondence and law-related poems,criticisms, articles and essays to: Editor-in-Chief, National Lawyers Guild Review, 830 W. Maple, Adrian,MI 49221. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be returned unless accompanied by return postage. NationalLawyers Guild Review is indexed/abstracted in Westlaw, PAIS-Public Affairs Information Service, TheLeft Index, the Alternative Press Index and in A MATTER OF FACT.Editorial Board: Nathan Goetting, Editor-in-Chief; Robyn Goldberg, Managing Editor; Kathleen Johnson,Book Editor; Britney Berry, Alan Clarke, Marjorie Cohn, Riva Enteen, Peter Erlinder, David Gespass, AnnFagan Ginger, Kelly A. Johnson, Silvia Lopez, Denise R. Oliveira, Melissa J. Sachs, Brenna Sharp, DeborahWillis, Henry Willis, Lisa Wong, Lester Roy Zipris.The opinions expressed in the articles are those of the various authors, and each article is Copyright, 2010,by the author and by National Lawyers Guild Review.Advisory Panel: Elvia Arriola, Derrick Bell, John Brittain, Margaret Burnham, Erwin Chemerinsky, DavidCole, Barbara Dudley, Richard Falk, Lennox Hinds, Sylvia A. Law, Staughton Lynd, Manning Marable, RubenRemigio Ferro, Jitendra Sharma, Kenji Urata, Frank Valdes, Patricia Williams.