Keith Olbermann is decrying what could be the most fundamental miscarriage of justice since Dred Scott v. Sandford, [1] declaring that a Black man had no right of citizenship in the United States.  This decision led, in short order to the Civil War. [2]

In the recently decided case Citizens United v. Federal Elections Committee [3] the issue before the court was the ability for a corporation to make campaign contributions, specifically to fund campaign ads.  Currently there is a cap on business campaign donations which have to be made through a political action committee.  The cap is in place to ensure that citizens can vote with their dollars early in the democratic process, specifically the funding of a candidate. 

The that has come down from Justice Roberts (a Bush Jr. appointee) has ruled that corporations, in line with previous rulings, are to be regarded as human beings in the eyes of the law, and thus limiting their ability to donate to campaigns is a fundamental violation of a corporation’s human rights. [4]

The previous ruling is the 1886 decision in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad [5] which had to do more to do with tax law.  It was decided that Southern Pacific Railroad was entitled to "the right to deduct the amount of their debts [i.e., mortgages] from the taxable value of their property, a right which was [previously only] given to individuals." [6]

During the pleading of the case, an orbiter dictum (legal: ‘passing comment’) was made that corporations were entitled to the same rights as humans.  The remark didn’t show up in the decision (merely the head notes) but from that point hereafter, corporations were regarded as human beings citing this ‘precedent.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution, indeed the Bill of Rights, (1791) establishes that "Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…".  The Supreme Court has taken this legislative gold and combined it with the dross of a passing comment in an unrelated case to produce an unholy alloy which now allows corporations, lacking human sensibilities aside from greed, all the rights of same. 

Olbermann concludes his commentary with a nod to another famous journalist famous for offering us a political conscience, Edward R. Murrow: “good night, and good luck.”

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Other Resources:
Jeff Toobin on the Colbert Report:
(United States) http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/249057/september-15-2009/citizens-united-v–federal-election-commission—jeffrey-toobin
(Canada) http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-colbert-report/interviews-a-z/the-colbert-report—interviews-b/clip97669#clip215649
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Citations
[1] http://www.oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1856/1856_0 
[2] http://rawstory.com/2010/01/olbermanns-special-comment-freedom-speech-destroyed/
[3] , [4] United Citizens v. Federal Elections Committee: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf
[5] Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County_v._Southern_Pacific_Railroad
[6] Carl Brent Swisher, "Motivation and Political Technique" in The California Constitutional Convention, 1878-1879 (New York: Da Capo, 1969), p. 78