Bickering has broken out in the U.S. Congress over a free-speech case Nike has appealed to the nation’s highest court.
Oregon’s five U.S. House representatives signed a letter last week urging their colleagues to dismiss a petition circulated earlier by Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich seeking support for Marc Kasky, the opponent in the Nike case.
Kasky, a San Francisco activist, sued Nike in 1998, accusing the world’s biggest sneaker producer of lying when it denied reports that workers were mistreated in Asian factories where its athletic shoes are manufactured. The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether Kasky has the right to sue Nike under the law. Oral arguments are scheduled to begin April 23.
More than a dozen organizations and business groups, including the U.S. government, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Civil Liberties Union, filed briefs with the Supreme Court late last month in support of Nike’s position.
Kucinich then penned a memo titled “Do Corporations Have a Constitutional Right to Lie?” to his colleagues, asking them to sign on to a brief he was planning to submit to the court supporting Kasky. Kucinich wrote that the case “could reshape constitutional definitions of commercial and political speech, giving corporations unprecedented freedom to make false and misleading statements in advertisements, newspaper editorials, and other venues.”
In response, Oregon Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Darlene Hooley, Greg Walden and David Wu sent letters to their peers saying that Kucinich’s arguments “fail to tell the whole story.”
“We have not always agreed with each other on matters dealing with international trade and globalization,” the Oregon representatives wrote. “But we do agree that we want a full, open and transparent debate about these issues,” which will “ensure that consumers receive complete and accurate information.”
