United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall established the long accepted legal definition of a corporation when he stated that a “corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law.” Although the legal definition of a corporation explicates its nonhuman status, corporations are viewed as persons in the eyes of the Court. Over time, corporations have slowly gained more and more constitutional protections. Courts have awarded constitutional protections to corporations as long as those guarantees are not “purely personal.” If a constitutional provision’s purpose, nature, and history indicate it is a purely personal guarantee, that provision is not applicable to corporations. Additionally, constitutional protections can apply to corporations but not as fully as these protections do to individual persons.
