Business...As Usual?
Chief Justice John Marshall of the Supreme Court (left) is accustomed to the business of politicking and law. But the case New Hampshire Govenor William Plumber (below, right) brought before him against Dartmouth College, opened a whole new perspective on business as usual in the Supreme Court.
Not only did the Dartmouth College v. Woodward case change the outlook for the privatization of higher education, it helped to shed light on intricacies in the business world: between corporations, charitable donations, contracts, and the murkiness in between. Arguably, Plumer never thought his case would reach Chief Justice Marshall and the Supreme Court of the United States. Please see Northwestern University's Raoul Berger Professor of Legal History Stephen B. Presser's (2001) pithy take in the matter: Corporations: Nonprofit Corporations-Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Dartmouth College, Nonprofit Corporations, Organizations & Associations.