Reply Brief for Petitioners
Reply brief written by petitioners Public Patent Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union
The Conscience of Corporations and the Right Not to Speak
The right to refrain from speaking is part of a broader concept the Supreme Court describes as “individual freedom of mind.”1 But do corporations have protection from compelled speech under the freedom of mind concept? It is bizarre to ascribe human characteristics to corporations, yet the Court has held that newspaper publishing corporations are protected by the freedom of mind concept from state-imposed requirements that interfere with their ability “to decide what to print or omit.”2 In reaching this conclusion, the Court ignored the corporate identity of the publishing company and instead emphasized the burden on editors.3 Later cases rejecting a First Amendment distinction between press and non-press corporations, such as Citizens United v. FEC,4 raise the question whether the Court should also ignore the corporate form of non-press entities and instead assess a law’s burden on management, employees, and shareholders. Stated differently, do non-press corporations have standing to assert that compelled speech vio-
At the end of the rope: Geophilus hadesi sp. n. – the world’s deepest cave-dwelling centipede (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Geophilidae)
Abstract A new geophilomorph centipede, Geophilus hadesi sp. n., is described from caves in the Velebit Mountain, central Croatia. Together with Geophilus persephones Foddai & Minelli, 1999, described from Pierre Saint-Martin cave in France, they are the only two remarkably troglomorphic geophilomorphs hitherto known. The new species apparently belongs to a group of Geophilus species inhabiting mainly Western and Southern Europe, with a uniquely modified pretarsus in the second maxillae. Geophilus hadesi sp. n. shows unusual traits, some of which commonly found in troglobitic arthropods, including exceptionally elongated antennae, trunk segments and leg claws. The species is described upon specimens found in two caves at a depth below -250 m. Another two specimens apparently belonging to the same species have been recorded in another deep vertical cave at -980 m and -1100 m. The latter represents the world’s deepest record of Chilopoda as a whole.