Judge gives two chimps partial human rights, then backtracks
Image: Frans de Waal / Wikimedia Commons
Digital Reporter
Wednesday, April 22, 2015, 9:01 AM - Easy come, easy go.
Animal lovers have likely heard this story by now: A judge in New York granted a pair of chimpanzees used in laboratory testing partial human rights on Monday.
Specifically, they were given the right of habeas corpus, under which a person cannot held without justification -- until the judge, Barbara Jaffe, then issued a revised order on Tuesday, with the writ of habeas corpus literally crossed out.
The case of the two chimps, Hercules and Leo, has been through several iterations in court before reaching Jaffe, who is a judge of the New York State Supreme Court. The Nonhuman Rights Project has been arguing the apes, at State University of New York at Stony Brook, are intelligent enough to be granted certain rights.
"Lightmatter chimp" by By Aaron Logan - from https://www.lightmatter.net/gallery/Animals/chimp. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.
Had the habeas corpus writ been kept from Monday's ruling, the university would have had to justify holding the apes and, if it failed to do so, would in theory have been obliged to release them, although there would likely have been further legal challenges.
According to Science Magazine, a spokesperson for the judge seemed to say the habeas corpus ruling was a procedural mistake. Jaffe apparently intended it to be a hearing to discuss the issues raised by the group, but the document was mislabelled.
The group and the university are back in court May 6.
The Nonhuman Rights Project sounded optimistic after the briefly-issued habeas corpus rights were rescinded, noting the case was one of three they had brought to court in an attempt to free
"These cases are novel and this is the first time that an Order to Show Cause has issued," a statement from the group reads. "We are grateful for an opportunity to litigate the issue of the freedom of the chimpanzees, Hercules and Leo, at the ordered May hearing."
Stony Brook University told the Wall Street Journal it "does not comment on the specifics of litigation, and awaits the court’s full consideration on this matter."
SOURCES: The Verge | Science | Wall Street Journal | Nonhuman Rights Project
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