Judicial Genuflection before Capitalists: New Gilded Age Style

One sign of the New Gilded Age is how the courts back up obnoxious aggressive corporate behavior against citizen activism. In the first Gilded Age, this would happen in all sorts of ways, perhaps most prominently in completely disregarding the Sherman Anti-Trust Act when it could be applied to corporations but creating reasons to apply it against unions in order to bust their strikers. While on the federal level the upsurge in Obama-appointed judges after the judicial filibuster was broken is providing some buffer against this, in Republican states, the courts are issuing increasingly ridiculous decisions.

Take this example from, you guessed it, Texas. A fracking operation opened near a house. The residents of that house could then set their tap water on fire. They filmed it and complained. The company responded by filing a defamation suit. Even though this is absurd, there’s no way a regular family can fight this because they don’t have the money. The Texas Supreme Court said the defamation suit can go forward. The family now basically has no choice but take whatever the company offers to settle their complaints without actually solving any of the problems.