Dear John,
Our Executive Director’s latest blog highlights a disturbing truth: the justice system is failing to uphold one of its most basic principles—protecting liberty.
As Christopher writes, the Colorado Supreme Court refused to even ask if the confinement of elephants Jambo, Kimba, LouLou, Lucky, and Missy at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was unjust. “Instead of sending the case back to the lower court to answer that question, the Colorado Supreme Court dodged the issue entirely. It ruled that the lower court did not even have the authority to consider the question because the legislature did not give it permission to hear cases involving injury to a nonhuman’s liberty.”
Christopher shares how the consequences of the Court’s decision extend far beyond this case. When courts strip themselves of the power to protect rights, everyone is at risk, and we’re already seeing examples of this in human liberty cases in other states.
Excerpt from the blog:
“This shrinking of judicial power has effects that spill beyond NhRP cases, as illustrated by a recent case in New York. A human prisoner was continuously shackled by their wrists and legs for nearly a month. An attorney unaffiliated with the NhRP brought a habeas corpus petition arguing that there was no reason to keep them shackled in this way, and that such shackling violated their right to liberty. The judge dismissed that case. In support of that dismissal, the judge cited the Happy opinion where a 5-2 majority of the New York Court of Appeals spuriously declared that courts could not grant habeas corpus relief that would transfer Happy the elephant from the Bronx Zoo to a sanctuary, i.e. one form of confinement to (in their view) a lesser form. Applying that logic, the judge in the more recent habeas corpus case reasoned she had no authority to stop the government from unreasonably and indefinitely shackling a prisoner because release from the shackles would not result in immediate release from the prison. The judge’s dismissal was recently upheld on appeal.”
We refuse to accept this dangerous precedent. But we need your help. Will you donate today to help us challenge unjust rulings against nonhuman animals and build a more just world for all?
