Animal Liberation in America: The Two Paths to Victory 

   

Freeing the Animals

The ending of animal slavery in the United States will ultimately take one of two possible paths. This article provides a brief discussion of each path and its relative advantages and disadvantages.

Path 1: Judicial Branch

The first path to freeing the animals goes through the judicial branch of government, the courts. U.S. Supreme Court Justices can, if they so choose, free the animals in the United States by interpreting the 13th Amendment prohibition of slavery to prohibit all slavery, not just human slavery. Activists can pursue this approach by bringing a lawsuit and hoping that the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case.

Path 2: Political Process

The second path to freeing the animals goes through the political process. Specifically, through this path, the Abolition Amendment is passed and ratified according to the amendment process expressly described in Article V of the U.S. Constitution. See the “Magic Numbers” infographic for the exact numbers needed for securing animal rights, liberation, and personhood via this path.

Advantages of First Path (Judicial Branch)

The first path enjoys several advantages over the second path. This path is:

• a whole lot easier: victory only requires five of the Supreme Court’s nine Justices to decide that animals are sentient beings, worthy of personhood, rather than property
• a whole lot cheaper: the costs are those associated with bringing a single lawsuit
• a lot faster: a lawsuit can be resolved within a few years

Disadvantages of First Path

The first path also suffers several drawbacks. Such a ruling:

• would be judicial legislation: the 13th Amendment was ratified with humans in mind, not other animals, so interpreting the 13th Amendment in this way ignores the original legislative intent and amounts to writing a new law—which is not something the judicial branch is empowered to do
• would ignore the fundamental principle of modern political philosophy: “consent of the governed” or “will of the people” is the cornerstone of governmental legitimacy in modern political theory
• would provide no framework for implementation: since the 13th Amendment was designed for humans, it provides no substance whatsoever that would assist with the complexities of freeing other animals
• would probably be very hard to enforce: since this approach does not engage in the extensive work necessary for building popular consensus, such a ruling would likely generate significant popular resistance
• could, and in all likelihood would, be easily overturned: even if five Supreme Court Justices could be found who were willing to take this step, a later group of Justices would likely view the ruling as flawed for the foregoing reasons

Advantages of the Second Path (Article V)

This second path enjoys several advantages over the first path. Ratification of the Abolition Amendment:

• would conform to the actual amendment process: the proper procedure for amending the Constitution is expressly set forth in Article V
• would conform to the “consent of the governed” or “will of the people” principle: by working its way through the political process, ratification of the Abolition Amendment would necessarily represent the will of the American people
• would establish a system for implementation specifically tailored to the unique challenges of the task: the Abolition Amendment, when ratified, not only frees the animals but establishes a legal regime for protecting their freedom and enforcing their rights thenceforward; check out Vegan Nation for interviews discussing these implementation provisions in detail

Disadvantages of the Second Path

The second path also suffers several disadvantages. Pursuit of this path is:

• a whole more expensive: passing a Constitutional amendment is a Herculean undertaking, requiring a vast amount of resources and human-hours
• a whole lot harder: after ratification of the Bill of Rights, only 17 Constitutional amendments have been passed in the entire history of the U.S.
• a lot slower: mobilizing the resources to free the animals by way of this path has already taken the Humane Party more than 16 years, and there’s still plenty(!) of work to do

Looking Ahead

Success on either of the above paths would be a dream-come-true for millions of animals. But since a victory on the first path would likely prove to be, at best, temporary and incomplete, I recommend that animal rights activists and would-be animal liberators focus on the second path.

That’s certainly the choice that the Humane Party has made, and if you’re someone who wants to free the animals, we would love to have your help in getting the Abolition Amendment passed and ratified by way of the process described in Article V.

~ Shelley Harrison