정치와 종교에 관한 헌법적 가치와 회사법 - 미국 연방대법원 판결을 중심으로 -

Business corporations are also afforded the constitutional protection for free speech (Korean counterpart for the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution). Though it has long been debated if business corporations shall be granted the same level of protection for free speech as that of natural persons. In particular, as far as corporations’ freedom to spend corporate funds on support of political candidates is concerned, it was established that corporations’ freedom is subject to limits and restrictions. However, Citizens United case has changed the case law by ruling that business corporations may now support political candidates through spending corporate funds. On the other hand, Hobby Lobby case seems to grant freedom of religious excercise to business corporations. This essay looks into the recent developments in the U.S. on political speech and religious exercise jurisprudence as they concern business corporations from the perspectives of constitutional law as well as corporate law. This essay shows that there are some important points to be made from the perspective of corporate law where the constitutional jurisprudence expands the freedom of political speech and religious exercise in favor of business corporations. This essay also suggests that there are potential conflicts between the values protected each by the constitutional law and corporate law rules. Lastly, this Essay suggests that Korea should be cautious in importing the U.S. case law as the ownership structure and governance of the Korean firms are very different from those of the U.S. firms.