This event is free and available to the public. OLLI membership is not required.

The links to access this event will be available on the OLLI website the day prior to the event.

This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United versus the Federal Election Committee, a controversial decision that President Obama declared "reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections." When he stated these words during his 2010 State of the Union Address, Justice Samuel Alito famously shook his head, mouthing “not true.”

To understand the Citizens United decision, it helps to understand the string of cases that preceded it and the underlying questions that center on the “personhood of the corporation.” Since the 1880s, courts have wrestled with questions like: Are corporations the same as “human persons”? Do they have rights, such as the right of free speech guaranteed under the first amendment to the US Constitution? Does money equal speech? Does money corrupt? Is there a “compelling state interest” in curtailing money as speech? These are all questions that the Supreme Court considered in rendering its Citizens United judgment. This session will attempt to make you more conversant in the Supreme Court’s reasoning, both in the supporting majority and the dissenting minority, and help you understand the deeper issues affecting our democratic processes.

Speaker Andrew Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, UM Ross School of Business and UM School for Environment and Sustainability. His research uses organizational behavior models and theories to understand the cultural and institutional aspects of environmental issues for organizations. He has published over 100 articles/book chapters, as well as 16 books, which have been translated into six languages.