William O. Douglas

“ Every one of our decisions upholding legislation as applied to corporations over the objection that it violated the Equal Protection Clause has assumed that they are entitled to the constitutional protection. ”

“ We are dealing with a question of vital concern to the people of the nation. It may be most desirable to give corporations this protection from the operation of the legislative process. But that question is not for us. It is for the people. If they want corporations to be treated as humans are treated, if they want to grant corporations this large degree of emancipation from state regulation, [5] they should say so. The Constitution provides a method by which they may do so. ”

“ No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.' (Italics added.)
'Persons' in the first sentence plainly include only human beings, for corporations are not 'born or naturalized.'
Corporations are not 'citizens' within the meaning of the first clause of the second sentence. ”