Every day, human rights defenders around the world risk their lives to stand up against injustice…[B]rave individuals everywhere depend on fundamental rights of free speech to do their work. The United States has always celebrated such rights as vital to our democracy…Yet recent trends…have privileged the free speech rights of corporations while silencing the living, breathing human beings that need those rights most… Since Citizens United, which extended First Amendment rights to corporations as “persons”, we’ve seen bold legal arguments against laws and regulations that would hold them accountable to fundamental human rights law…Human rights advocates have always faced an uphill battle, especially when taking on corporate abuse. What is new is the way in which our highest courts are privileging corporations and their rights over those of actual human beings. [refers to Shell, Chevron, Daimler]