More and more often I realize that fact is stranger than fiction, which brings me to this story.
President Obama’s “regulation czar” Professor Cass Sunstein wants animals to be able to sue their owners. There is a problem, however, since animals can’t reason or express themselves verbally. So the litigation would be handled by human lawyers, acting as ventriloquists on behalf of the animal kingdom. Sunstein does not explain how the animals would communicate what issues were particularly odious to them. Perhaps, the lawyers could contact dog whisperer Cesar Millan for advice.
“Any animals that are entitled to bring suit would be represented by (human) counsel, who would owe guardian-like obligations and make decisions, subject to those obligations, on their clients’ behalf,” said Sunstein, a Harvard legal scholar, who first proposed the idea in 2002.
This idea is fraught with difficulties for hunters, ranchers, restaurateurs, or ordinary pet owners,” according to the food industry lobby group The Center for Consumer Freedom. Then again, activists in Spain have proposed that apes be granted human rights.
