animal rights

I remember a Supreme Court decision in an environmental case that hinged upon whether or not a tree had standing to bring a lawsuit under one of the environmental statutes. (The tree lost.) A review of a recent book, called Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights describes an author who is pretty serious about his subject matter.

He talks vaguely about basic liberty or dignity rights that might include immunity from enslavement and torture. But even assuming the animals deserve protection, who will assert these rights on the animals' behalf?

It may all sound pretty far-fetched and impractical. Then again, just as Wise's book was released, the lower house of Germany's parliament voted to guarantee some rights to animals in its constitution

Next, I'll probably be telling you that we should consider letting animals run for office.