(By Wesley J. Smith / NRO) – Now is the time to put laws in effect at the federal and state levels prohibiting non-human animals, flora, and geological features from being treated as “persons” in courts, or accorded “rights” of any kind.
Why, the alarm, Wesley? We have seen rivers and glaciers declared persons. An orangutan in Argentina was granted a writ of habeas corpus. Ordinances in more than 30 U.S. cities — and laws in two countries — grant “rights” to nature.
Now, in the lawsuit in New York to declare chimpanzees to be deemed “persons,” a Court of Appeals (the state’s supreme court) judge clearly wanted to go there in a concurring opinion refusing to grant a motion to permit an appeal. CONTINUE