An interesting thing happened on the way to the decision in that case, however. The separate existence of corporation and owners collapsed, and the corporations – at least these two companies and others formed as they were – became actual extensions of the personal value systems of their family owners. If the corporation had rights, Justice Alito wrote for the majority, it did so only because the owners had those rights – in this instance, the right to express their religious beliefs in the conduct of a money-making business.