First Free Speech, Now Free Reign?

Corporate executives got more good news from the Supreme Court yesterday, as a suit brought by ethically-challenged Jeffrey Skilling of Enron fame and, less well-known, former media mogul Conrad Black might lead to the overturning of a number of convictions based on the "honest service" corruption statute (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575326644174012942.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories). One might find it understandable that corporate leaders would have a hard time discerning between criminal and lawful behavior, particularly in the current milieu of winning at all costs, and the Supreme court followed this logic, basing their decision on the ambiguity of "legal" behavior in corporate America today. Apparently, the confusion violates the 5th amendment, which states that due process requires knowledge of what is right and wrong. One wonders if Hitler might have gotten off if he had lived and was tried by the Supreme Court today. On a more serious note, if what Enron did to shareholders, employees, the people of California and countless other victims doesn't count as crime, I think it is time to seriously consider what ethics really means and how to reform civil and criminal codes to deal with corporate malfeasance in a real way.