Fifth Amendment says no. I'm not even an American and I know that will never fly. The US is not China, which very much can and does do this.
It's not actually necessary either! There's plenty of scope for fines and compliance orders. Heck, the US government could even ban them as a supplier, putting them out of business .. if there was another plane company in the US.
The whole fiasco is the fault of wrongly approving the creation of a US plane monopoly in the merger with McDonnell-Douglas.
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
Final clause.
(this is why unrelated sub-clauses should be numbered, not just appended with semicolons)
Would it not be a possible resolution via court order as a punishment for conviction of crimes? I mean, they killed hundreds, that's a capital crime in most places for individuals, I think collectively killing half the company, or even literally in case of executives and board members might be appropriate.
They can be fined into bankruptcy and effective non-existence, the executives can go to jail, but no, Boeing can't be seized because we have rule of law.
> Boeing can't be seized because we have rule of law.
That only follows to the extent that there isn't currently a law saying that a corporation can be seized due to massive malfeasance. If we passed a law providing for that as a punishment (or if there's already one on the books that fits, that you and I just aren't aware of) in clearly defined circumstances (or as clearly defined as such things ever are), then there would be no problem; it's not like there's a Constitutional right to never lose your corporation.
There's a Constitutional right against undue property seizure. Prosecutors can liquidate assets used in a crime after a conviction, but there is no law that would permit the operation of Boeing, as a corporation, by the government, and any such law, would, thankfully, be unconstitutional.
Powers of expropriation are the stuff of Communist dictatorships. "We don't do that here."
> there is no law that would permit the operation of Boeing, as a corporation, by the government,
...as we have both just been saying...
> and any such law, would, thankfully, be unconstitutional.
[Citation needed]
If the government can liquidate assets used in a crime, then if "Boeing" commits crimes, it follows that the government should be able to liquidate Boeing, because the entire company is an asset, and the ones committing the crimes are, in any meaningful sense, the people in charge of Boeing. Using that asset. To commit the crimes.
Given that, it seems to be a pretty huge stretch to claim that seizing such a company, and operating it (especially temporarily) for the public benefit, in order to both deny access to the fruits of the crime to its perpetrators, and prevent further such crimes, would be unconstitutional. It would also be massively less wasteful and destructive to the economy and the lives of the many innocent people working there to simply change out the criminal leadership for government-appointed caretakers rather than sell it all off.
Again: I'm not saying there are any laws on the books that would permit this. I just think the idea that it is prohibited by the Constitution is utterly unsupported and, at best, an extraordinary claim.
The combination of the Fifth Amendment takings clause and the Eighth Amendment excessive fines clause. The government can fine Boeing what we would consider a lot of money (perhaps even into the billions), but expropriation isn't permitted in the United States. If they want the rest of the company they can eminent domain it but that involves paying the shareholders market value (after decades of litigation).
I'm still not sure how a company cannot be seized... A person can be seized and imprisoned... property can be seized... why is a company so dramatically different than property in general? Could all the property a company owns be seized as part of a penalty? And why couldn't a company be fined to a point it would effectively bankrupt said company?
Edit: I'm pretty sure if a company started selling cocaine in the US, something would happen to seize and stop that company.
Fifth Amendment says no. I'm not even an American and I know that will never fly. The US is not China, which very much can and does do this.
It's not actually necessary either! There's plenty of scope for fines and compliance orders. Heck, the US government could even ban them as a supplier, putting them out of business .. if there was another plane company in the US.
The whole fiasco is the fault of wrongly approving the creation of a US plane monopoly in the merger with McDonnell-Douglas.