"The movement and struggle to win rights for corporations," says UCLA Law School Professor Adam Winkler, "[is] one of the least well-known, yet most successful civil rights movements in American history."

An important chapter in that history was in 2010, when the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the government to restrict corporations from spending money on political ads right before an election. Many liberal advocacy groups were outraged over the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Last year, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D- N. Mex.) and Martin Heinrich (D- N. Mex.) introduced a constitutional amendment that would overturn the decision.

In his new book titled We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights, Winkler challenges conventional wisdom about Citizens United. He even complicates the narrative about the founding of America.

Interview by Paul Detrick. Edited by Detrick.

Aourourou by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Azalai/Aourourou

Artist: https://www.sessions.blue/

Toothless Slope by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Blue_Dot_Sessions/Azalai/Toothless_Slope

Artist: https://www.sessions.blue/