This Roberts Supreme Court of Bush’s is the most corporate friendly piece-of-crap I think I’ve ever seen.   This is a court where one of the Justices is getting straight-up kickbacks vis his wife, and lavish gifts from wealthy friends who run big companies.

Is it any surprise at all they feel these corporate “people” have rights that trump actual, living, breathing people?    Is it any surprise at all that when it comes to the steps living, breathing, people have to take to keep living, and breathing, not sharing that information is  *actually* a violation of the rights of the corporations?

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Vermont law that barred the sale of doctors’ prescription data to drug companies, ruling the law interfered with the pharmaceutical industry’s First Amendment right to market its products.

Data companies such as IMS Health Inc. gather information from pharmacies on which medicines doctors are prescribing and how often. Drug makers buy the data, using it to refine their marketing pitches and measure which salespeople are the most effective.

A 2007 Vermont law effectively banned the practice in the state. It said data-mining companies can’t sell the prescription information for marketing purposes, and drug makers can’t use it, unless the prescribing doctor consents. Vermont lawmakers said the measure would protect the privacy of doctors and patients and help to control health-care costs on expensive brand-name drugs.

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, said the law was an unconstitutional restriction on drug makers’ free speech rights.

[full story]

Said it before, and I’ll say it again, we need a new constitutional amendment that protects the privacy of living, breathing, citizens.   The current interpretation of the 4th Amendment is so woefully lacking, it’s barely worth considering at this point in this context.