In what one attorney called "an end-run around the constitution," corporations are using a little-known provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to challenge public laws, regulations and jury verdicts not only in the United States, but in Canada and Mexico as well. And, they are arguing these cases not in courts of law, but before secret trade tribunals.

How can this be happening? And why do so few people know about it?

In the latest in their series of exposés on the secret recesses of American democracy, Bill Moyers and Sherry Jones uncover how multinational corporations have acquired the power to demand compensation if laws aimed at protecting the environment and or public health harm them financially.

Bill Moyers: Trading Democracy
A one-hour documentary premiering Friday, February 8 at 10 p.m. 
On KPBS Channel 15/Cable 11