Just in case you needed something to tick you off…

North Carolina NPR listeners got a sobering reminder this morning of the power of the corporate ruling class. Today's little bummer was a story by Nina Totenberg on the current U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the 1989 environmental catastrophe brought about by the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil "spill." (As an aside, isn't there a better word than "spill" to describe the release of millions of gallons of toxic chemicals into a formerly pristine natural environment?)

Anyway, the story centers around the fact that the boys at Exxon (now Exxon Mobil) are contesting the award of punitive damages in the case. Punitive damages, of course, are designed to be "punitive" — that is, to punish bad behavior and deter it in the future. The jury in the Exxon case awarded $5 billion – actually a fairly modest amount given the scale of the devastation and the thousands of human lives that were screwed up by Exxon's allowance of a notorious alcoholic to captain and steer their ship (or in this case, to be sleeping one off when he was needed on the bridge).

Naturally, the $5 billion figure was whittled down by the conservative federal appeals courts into the $2.5 billion range. According to Totenberg, this figure amounts to roughly three weeks' net profits at Exxon Mobil's currently staggering rate of income. 

Now, however, Exxon Mobil wants even this amount eliminated entirely on a variety of technical grounds. And who, you might ask, will the giant mega-corporation's chief defender be before the Supremes at oral argument?  None other than North Carolina's own Walter Dellinger. Dellinger, of course, is a Duke Law School prof and all-purpose, big money, establishment Democrat. He's a former Clinton Solicitor General and has been mentioned as a possible AG for Hillary. His son Hampton is actually running for Lite Guv on a progressive platform (with, apparently, significant contributions from his old man). 

What makes the story so depressing, of course, is that while Exxon Mobil is entitled to their day in court (or in this case their two decades in court), Dellinger's participation sends a clear message to what is clearly, in many ways, a political body. As a well-known Dem, he gives cover to the moderates on the Court (there really aren't any liberals anymore) that it's okay to rule for the giant company and further endanger the whole concept of punitive damages against corporate lawbreakers.

Let's hope it's just a big (and losing) payday for Dellinger and a temporary dalliance with the country's corporate overlords rather than a signal of what we can expect in the next Democratic administration in Washington.