-
Elephant Habeas: Steven Wise Shops for a Forum
What stereotypes come to mind when you think of San Francisco? It’s full of hippies! It has open-air drug markets! It is the home of Star Fleet Academy! Steven Wise and the Nonhuman Rights Project may have had such stereotypes in mind when they filed their latest petition for a writ of habeas corpus for……
-
Lago Agrio: Second Circuit Affirms Conviction of Steven Donziger for Contempt of Court
Yesterday the Second Circuit affirmed Steven Donziger’s conviction on charges of contempt of court. Donziger did not challenge the judge’s findings of fact on appeal, and there was no real question about the facts at the trial. Instead, Donziger argued that his prosecution was unconstitutional because the prosecutor was a private lawyer appointed by the……
-
Elephant Habeas: New York’s High Court Rejects “Elephants Are Persons” Nonsense
Let me stipulate at the beginning that elephants are magnificent animals who have been treated badly by us human beings for a long time. We have hunted them for ivory, reduced their habitat, and mistreated them in captivity in the circus and in some zoos. I say some zoos because Happy, the elephant at the……
-
Some Thoughts on the Leaked Draft Opinion Overturning Roe v. Wade
You have probably read the news from last night. Someone (a law clerk?) has leaked a draft opinion indicating that the Supreme Court is on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), the case holding that a woman has a constitutional right to abort a pregnancy in the first trimester of……
-
Lago Agrio: Donziger finishes serving his sentence
Steven Donziger finished serving his sentence yesterday following his conviction of criminal contempt of court. Although it will come too late to affect his sentence, his appeal challenging the constitutionality of the proceedings, in which the government was represented by a private prosecutor as provided in Fed. R. Crim. P. 42 who, Donziger says, was……