Robert L. Kerr

Kerr examines the historical development of the corporate free-speech movement and its role in shaping the latter decades of the twentieth century into what he describes as an age of cognitive feudalism. His basic thesis asserts that the rhetoric of this movement and the actions of the Supreme Court have served to tilt the court's First Amendment rationale - the marketplace of ideas - in favor of corporate business entities favored by government in the economic marketplace. Thus, this research supports the theoretical position that government regulation of corporate political media spending promotes a more truly free marketplace of ideas; a position Kerr demonstrates as consistent with the economic theories of Adam Smith and legal doctrine championed by Chief Justice William Rehnquist.