This case shows the level of madness that has reached our courts. The court considered that sea animals might have the right to redress in our courts while denying the same protection to infants who would be viable outside of their mothers. Heaven please help us! This is the fruit of moral relativisim; moral chaos.
Mark Rouleau
rouleau-law@afo.net
Am I the only one that's troubled by the following decision? It took these judicial geniuses 18 pages to determine that sea creatures don't have standing to sue. But they "saw no reason why animals should not be allowed to sue." If the decision went the other way, I guess we'd all have a gigantic class of potential clients, none of which could pay a penny in fees. I'd also like to know how Attorney Sinkin obtained his client's informed consent to proceed with this lawsuit. If you'd like to read this for case yourself, the opinion is available for PDF download on the court's web site:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/Opinions+by+date?OpenView&Start=1&Count=100&Expand=1.1The title is Cetacean Community v. Bush, et al., No. 03-15866, posted 10/20/04.
Bob Park
Court Says Whales, Dolphins Cannot Sue Bush
Wed Oct 20, 3:24 PM ETLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The world's whales, porpoises and dolphins have no standing to sue President Bush over the U.S. Navy 's use of sonar equipment that harms marine mammals, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, widely considered one of the most liberal and activist in the country, said it saw no reason why animals should not be allowed to sue but said they had not yet been granted that right.
"If Congress and the President intended to take the extraordinary step of authorizing animals as well as people and legal entities to sue they could and should have said so plainly," Judge William A. Fletcher wrote in an 18-page opinion for the panel.
The lawsuit was brought against Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf The Cetacean Community -- defined as the world's whales, porpoises and dolphins -- by their self-appointed lawyer, marine mammal activist Lanny Sinkin.
Sinkin claimed in the lawsuit that the U.S. Navy had violated the Endangered Species Act with its use of long range, low frequency sonar that can cause tissue damage and other injuries to marine mammals.
Sinkin could not be reached for comment on the 9th Circuit's decision, which upheld a lower court ruling. ---