# Corporations are People, My Friends! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 12, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corporations-are-people-my-friends/640795 "2012-11-12T16:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bpelta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bpelta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bpelta)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corporations-are-people-my-friends/640795/1 "2012-11-12T16:59:41Z")
In today’s [featured column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2343/could-a-member-of-an-extraterrestrial-species-be-u-s-president), Cecil writes the followng: > [@](#): > > You’re thinking: So Microsoft, in theory, could eliminate the middleman and run the country directly! However, the law generally distinguishes between “natural persons” (the flesh and blood kind) and “artificial persons” (those created through operation of law). I’m confident that only natural persons are permitted to hold public office. However, the experts I initially consulted — you can’t expect me to keep track of all these details personally — were unable to cite controlling legal authority to this effect. Murray Hill Inc., a PR firm, ran a satirical campaign for the House of Representatives in Maryland and the Maryland Board of Elections [denied](http://www.scribd.com/doc/30976969/Murray-Hill-BOE-Rejection-Decision-1) their application to run on the grounds that Maryland law would distinguish between a “person” (which a corporation may be) and an “individual” (which a corporation cannot be). IANAL, so I wouldn’t know if this distinction would work in all other states. Interestingly, Murray Hill responded by calling the decision [anti-corporate bigotry](http://murrayhillincforcongress.blogspot.com/2010/07/anti-corporate-bigotry-continues-in.html). One wonders if they could’ve gone on to make a lawsuit on grounds of discrimination!