The Monkey Selfie case has come to a depressing and cynical end. The case had to do with a photograph of an Indonesian monkey. David Slater, a professional photographer, set up a camera on a tripod in the monkey’s habitat and left the camera’s remote trigger near the camera. One monkey, Naruto, picked up the……

When I was a law clerk, a lawyer filed a civil rights action in my judge’s court (the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio) against an Ohio municipality, several police officers, and Lieutenant Bars. When I read the complaint, I was momentarily confused. Who was Lieutenant Bars? Why, the police dog, of……