Citizens United v FEC: The Evolution of Corporate Personhood

Student Name: Oscar Avatare

Experiential Learning Category: Research
Associated UW Course (if applicable): Honors 499 A
Summarize your proposed experiential learning activity, including the primary focus of
your activity, your intended actions, and the expectations of your supervisor and/or
organization/partners.
My experiential learning activity will research the evolution of corporate personhood. Its primary
focus will be the 2010 United States Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC. Through an
analysis of this case, I will be able to examine four main points surrounding corporate
personhood and the implications of the case. My intended actions will be to examine these
points. First, how the case impacted free speech. Second, the text, structure, and precedent of the
case. Third, the political implications of the case and the battle over the First Amendment.
Fourth, the current state of corporate personhood and how the case affected that standing. I
expect my supervisor to clarify legal terms for me and provide feedback to me about my paper.
Explain how your activity demonstrates the values of the Honors Program Experiential
Learning area you selected. Rather than reiterating our definition, outline how your
activity embodies this definition.
This activity demonstrates the values of the Honors Program Experiential Learning area of
research because I am implementing an independent research project of my own design with a
faculty mentor. The values that this research espouses are the values of both the Honors Program
and the Honors Program Experiential Learning area of research. It reflects the values of the
Honors Program because I am taking an intellectual risk and looking at the interdependence of
branches of knowledge. Because I will be examining the intersection of business, politics, and
law I will definitely taking an interdisciplinary view on the effects of Citizens United. It is also
an intellectual risk because I'm not sure what I will find and I am excited about that.
How and why did you select this engagement? What skills or experiences do you hope to
gain from it?
I have chosen to use this research project as my experiential learning project because I was
inspired by my Law 100 Honors class and I realized that law presents the confluence of many of
my interests. Laws are the bedrock of our society and I would like to see how they evolve and
change. I also am doing this project because there are very few undergraduate classes or research
opportunities that pertain to law, therefore a research project fits perfectly with my goals. Skills I
hope to gain from this research are to improve my writing and to give me an insight into legal
research. In addition to this, it would also allow me to complete one of my experiential learning
requirements for the Honors Program.

How does this activity connect to your concurrent or past coursework? How does it speak
to your broader education goals and experiences?
This activity connects to my concurrent and past coursework because I took Law 100 Honors in
Fall Quarter and I am currently taking Management 200 which is a course about legal institutions
and processes in the business world. So far in college, courses about law have been my favorite.
Therefore, I wanted to do an Honors 499 project about a legal case to see how it affected society
and politics because of how much I enjoyed my previous law class. As an interdisciplinary
learner, it fascinates me and it also allows me to find out more about corporate personhood and
this project will allow me to gauge my interest in the details of constitutional and business law to
ascertain if I would like to be a lawyer in the future.
How will your activity contribute to the larger goals of the organization/your partners?
The activity will contribute to the larger goals of the UW Law School because they are trying to
facilitate more undergraduate involvement with their department. One way to do this is to have
classes for undergraduates like Law 100, which I took in the fall. This project will further
involve me with the law school and that is both good for them and the Honors Program. In
addition to this, Honors 499 projects are meant to allow independent research outside a student's
chosen major and I am doing exactly that with this project.
Estimated hours per week: 4
Estimated project start: 03/28/2016
Estimated project end: 06/10/2016
Supervisor name: Theodore Myhre
Title/Affiliation: Senior Law Lecturer
Organization (if applicable): UW School of Law
UW NetID (if applicable): tmyhre
Email: tmyhre@uw.edu